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This  book  is  due  at  the  WALTER  R.  DAVIS  LIBRARY  on 
the  last  date  stamped  under  “Date  Due.”  If  not  on  hold  it 
may  be  renewed  by  bringing  it  to  the  library. 

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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


https://archive.org/details/georgewashington00stod_0 


THE  STUART  PORTRAIT  OF  WASHINGTON. 

Engraved  by  David  Nichols ,  from  a  photograph  taken  for  the  purpose  through  the  courtesy 
of  the  Fine  Arts  Committee  of  the  Boston  Athencrum. 


THE  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

X  D  v\\( 

•  f  $ 

BY 

A v>rrs 

WILLIAM  Q?  STODDARD 

Author  of  “  The  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln ,"  “  The  Life  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant," 
“  Dab  Kinzer,"  “  Esau  Hardery etc.,  etc 


NEW  YORK 

WHITE,  STOKES,  &  AEEEN 
1886 


Copyright,  1886, 

By  WHITE,  STOKES,  &  ALLEN 


CONTENTS. 


X 

X 

X 

o 


CHAPTER  I. 

In  the  Good  Old  Colony  Times  when  America 
had  a  King. — The  Boy -life  of  a  Boy  who  was 
to  Become  a  Great  Man. — School  days. — Boy 
Soldiers. — Judge  of  the  Play -ground  Court . . .  i 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Sea  Fever. — Great  Friends. — Tales  of  Ad¬ 
venture. —  The  Young  Surveyor. — A  Love- 
affair. — Rides  for  Good  Behavior. — Into  the 
Backwoods .  io 

CHAPTER  III. 

Lessons  of  Frontier  Life. — A  War  Party. — 
Good  Pay. — A  Public  Appointment. — France, 
England,  and  the  Ohio  Wilderness. — How  the 
King  Gave  away  the  Land  he  did  not  Own. — 

A  Young  Major .  18 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Further  into  the  Wilderness. — A  Perilous  Errand. 

— Indian  Diplomacy.  —  The  Beginning  of  a 
Long  Struggle.  —  Through  the  Woods  in 
Winter. — Selecting  a  Site  for  a  Fort. — Ice- 
water  Adventures .  27 

CHAPTER  V. 

A  Daring  Deed  Appreciated. — Preparing  for 
War. — A  Very  Young  Commander. — A  Scar¬ 
city  of  Fighting  Men. — A  Push  into  the  Indian 

(jsvvdC 

o-'+rj 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Country. — The  Surrender  of  Fort  Necessity . — 
Colonists  Considered  Inferiors  of  Englishmen. .  40 

CHAPTER  VI. 

A  Boy-Colonel. — Snubs  for  Colonial  Militia 
Officers. — A  Visit  to  Home  and  Mother. — 
English  and  French  Diplomacies. — Braddock' s 
Campaign. — A  Sudden  and  Terrible  Disaster .  55 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Once  More  a  Colonel. — A  Trip  to  Boston. — 
Visiting  in  New  York. — Another  Love-affair. 

— Indian  War  Desolating  the  Virginia  Frontier. 

—  War  Operations  at  Other  Points. — Mrs. 
Martha  Washington .  66 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Going  to  the  Legislature . — An  Attempt  at  Public 
Speaking. — Canada  Won  by  England. —  Well 
Settled  in  Life.  —  Bright  Days  at  Mount 
Vernon. — Negro  Slavery  in  its  Best  Conditions. 

— Pontiac  s  War .  78 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Pressing  the  Colonies  Together. — Old  Colony 
News. — New  England  Matters.  —  Taxation 
without  Representation. — Friends  of  America 
in  England. — Patrick  Henry  s  Resolutions. — 

The  Stamp  Act.  —  The  Tax  on  Tea. — A  Death 
in  the  Mount  Vernon  Family .  87 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Boston  Tea-Party. —The  Boston  Port  Bill. 

— A  Call  for  a  General  Congress. —  Washington 


CONTENTS. 


v 


PAGE 


Sent  to  Congress. —  The  Declaration  of  Rights. 

— “  We  Must  Fight  r .  ioi 

CHAPTER  XI. 

i 

A  Ministry  Gone  Crazy. — The  Battle  of  Lexing¬ 
ton. — How  the  Country  Arose. —  Ticonderoga. 

—  The  Siege  of  Boston. —  The  Federal  Union. — 
Commander-  in- Chief. — Bunker  Hill .  109 

CHAPTER  XII. 

New  York  Patriotism. — Tories  and  Indians. — 
Washington  in  the  Boston  Camps. — Organiza¬ 
tion  of  the  Army. — No  Powder  to  Fight  with. .  122 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

General  Gage  and  Mr.  Washington. — The  In¬ 
vasion  of  Canada. — Sea- Coast  Plundering. — 
Beginning  of  a  Navy. — Reorganizing  the 
Army .  132 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Supplies  from  the  Sea. — Homesick  Soldiers. — 

Mrs.  Washington  in  Camp. — Quelling  a  Riot. 

— Lord  Dunmore' s  Plot. — The  Defence  of  New 
York.  —  The  New  A  rmy.  —  The  British  Driven 
out  of  Boston .  1 4 1 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  War  Transferred  to  New  York. — Forts  on 
the  Hudson. —  The  Hessians  Coming. — Retreat 
from  Canada. —  The  Declaration  of  Indepen¬ 
dence. — No  Pardons  Wanted .  15 1 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

TAGE 

The  Fight  in  Charleston  Harbor. — A  Sermon  on 
Swear  mg. — Preparing  for  Bloody  Work.  —  The 
Battle  of  Long  Island. — The  Night  Retreat 
Covered  by  a  Fog. — Good  Service  to  America 
by  a  Hessian  Sentry .  159 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

New  Offers  of  Pardon. —  The  Retreat  from  New 
York. — A  Burst  of  Temper. — Patriotic  Hos¬ 
pitality. —  The  Camp  on  Washington  Heights. — 
Providing  for  Another  New  Army.  —  War. — 

The  Battle  of  White  Plains. — Loss  of  Fort 
Washington .  168 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

v 

Directing  Chaos. —  The  Retreat  through  New 
Jersey. — The  Commander -in-  Chief  made  Dic¬ 
tator. — Capture  of  Lee. —  Trenton  and  Prince¬ 
ton. —  Winter  Quarters . 182 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

A  Sudden  Change. —  The  New  Jersey  Rising. — 

The  Small-pox  in  Camp. — Fighting  Immo¬ 
rality. — Coming  of  Lafayette. — Tryon  s  Raid. 

— Jealousy  and  Intrigue . 190 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Burgoyne's  Army.  —  Loss  of  Ticonderoga.  — 
Indians  as  Recruiting  Agents. — Battles  of 
Bennington  and  Oriskany. — Stillwater  and 
Saratoga ,  and  the  Surrender  of  Burgoync , . . .  199 


CONTENTS. 


Vll 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

page 

The  Campaign  to  Save  Philadelphia . —  The  Battle 
of  the  Brandywine . —  The  British  A  rmy  Occupy 
the  City. —  The  Battle  of  Germantown. — Forts 
Mercer  and  Mifflin. —  The  Conway  Cabal. — 
Winter  Quarters  at  Valley  Forge .  209 

CPIAPTER  XXII. 

Cold  and  Hunger. —  Washington' s  Appeal  and 
Defence. — Praying  in  the  Snow. — Articles  of 
Fcdcratioji.  —  Paper  Currency.  —  Steuben  s 
Work. — Conciliatory  Acts  of  Parliament. —  The 
French  Alliance. —  The  Battle  of  Monmouth. . .  217 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Misunderstandings  and  Disappointments. — Indian 
Massacres. — Loss  of  Savannah. — The  Political 
Condition.  —  French  Plans.  —  Punishing  the 
Iroquois. — Stony  Point .  227 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

A  Bitter  Winter. — Sufferings  of  the  Army.— 
Fears  of  a  Dictatorship. — Loss  of  Charleston. 

— Subduing  the  South.  —  The  Battle  of  Sanders 
Creek. — Arnold's  Treason .  237 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

A  Year  Closing  Darkly. — Generosity  to  Gates. — 

The  Great  Southern  Campaign  of  General 
Greene . —  The  Battle  of  the  Cozvpens. —  The 
Battle  of  Guilford  Court  House. —  The  Battle  of 
Hob  kirk's  Hill.—Eutaw  Springs.—  The  Mutiny 
of  Wayne' s  Men. — Preparing  for  the  End. . .  246 


vm 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

i’AGB 

Good  News. — Keeping  up  Appearances. — A  Sud¬ 
den  March. —  Two  Days  at  Mount  Vernon. — 

The  Siege  of  Yorktow?i. — Surrender  of  Corn- 
ivallis .  258 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Closing  up  the  War. —  Tempting  Washington 
with  a  Crown. — Quelling  Disturbances. —  The 
Treaty  with  Great  Britain. — A  Visit  to  Old 
Battle-fields. — Farewells  to  Soldiers  and  to 
Officers .  265- 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Washington  s  Resignation  as  Commander-in-Chief. 

— Bright  Days  at  Mount  Vernon. — Internal 
Improvement  Schemes .  —  The  Constitutional 
Co?ivention. — Elected  President  Unanimously . 

— A  Triumphal  Procession. — A  Grand  In¬ 
augural .  273 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Washington’s  First  Presidential  Term. — Ques¬ 
tions  of  Ceremonial. — A  Dangerous  Illness. — 

War  with  the  Western  Indians. — Presidential 
Tours  North  and  South. — Citizen  Genet .  282 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

War  Clouds. —  The  Whiskey  Rebellion. —  Wayne’s 
Defeat  of  the  Indians. — Political  Calumnies. — 

The  Farewell  Address. — Home  again  at  Mount 
Verno7i. —  The  French  War  Excitement « — The 
End .  297 


Lives  of  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

FIRST  PRESIDENT. 


By  WILLIAM  O.  STODDARD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

In  the  Good  Old  Colony  Times  when  America  had  a 
King.  —  The  Boy-life  of  a  Boy  who  was  to  Become 
a  Great  Man. — School-days. — Boy  Soldiers. — Judge 
of  the  Play -ground  Court . 

In  the  year  1732  (old  style)  there  stood  a  large 
and  comfortable  old  farm-house  upon  the  bank  of 
Bridges  Creek,  near  where  it  empties  into  the  Po¬ 
tomac  River,  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Virginia. 
In  that  day  the  boundaries  of  the  Virginia  colony 
were  only  known  distinctly  upon  the  ocean's  side, 
and  along  the  deep  bays  and  rivers.  Northerly  and 
southerly  they  were  somewhat  in  doubt,  and  wester¬ 
ly  they  were  lost  among  the  Indians.  The  farm¬ 
house  was  built  with  a  great  spread  of  high  roof 
reaching  down  to  low  and  projecting  eaves.  There 
were  four  large  rooms  on  the  ground  floor,  and 
others  above,  and  this  gave  ample  accommodation, 
for  it  was  customary  that  slaves  and  other  servants 


2 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


should  live  in  quarters  of  their  own,  apart  from  the 
family  mansion,  but  near  it.  This  house  was  the 
residence  of  the  very  ancient  and  aristocratic  Wash¬ 
ington  family,  or  rather  of  a  branch  of  it  which  had 
been  driven  to  America  by  the  civil  wars  of  Eng¬ 
land.  The  Washingtons  were  rich  in  landed  pos¬ 
sessions,  and  had  much  land  under  cultivation  ;  but 
neither  in  their  residence  nor  in  their  style  of  living 
were  they,  or  any  other  of  the  great  Virginia  families, 
able  to  provide  such  things  as  belong  to  people  in 
comfortable  circumstances  at  the  present  day. 

In  this  old  homestead  upon  Bridges  Creek,  on  the 
22d  of  February,  in  the  year  1732,  was  born  George 
Washington.  He  came  into  the  world  as  a  young 
Englishman,  and  his  parents  and  friends  had  no 
idea  whatever  that  he  would  or  could,  in  process  of 
time,  become  anything  else.  Nobody  then  dreamed 
that  a  new  nation  was  to  be  constructed  out  of  the 
feeble  English  colonies  that  lined  the  Atlantic  shore 
and  that  dared  not  push  inland  much  beyond  the 
points  where  the  great  rivers  ceased  to  rise  and  fall 
with  the  tides.  Forty-four  years  later  there  was  to 
be  a  great  deal  more  good  material  to  make  a  nation 
out  of.  This  baby  in  the  Virginia  cradle  was  to 
grow  up  with  the  country,  and  know  all  about  it  ; 
and  was  to  get  the  love  and  confidence  of  its  people 
as  he  grew.  He  was  born  in  precisely  the  place  and 
under  the  exact  circumstances  best  adapted  for  build¬ 
ing  him  up  into  the  man  that  was  sure  to  be  needed 
in  the  year  1776.  The  entire  structure  of  society 
was  English,  and  was  intensely  aristocratic.  The 
idea  of  the  equality  of  all  men,  one  with  another, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


3 


had  hardly  been  heard  of.  It  was  commonly  be¬ 
lieved  to  be  perfectly  right  that  one  man,  white  or 
black,  should  be  the  bondsman  of  another  who  had 
been  born  to  rule  and  to  own.  There  was  hardly 
any  opportunity  for  a  poor  young  man  of  lowly 
parentage  to  rise  very  high.  The  exceptions  to  the 
rule  were  few,  and  not  many  of  them  were  likely  to 
occur  in  Virginia  until  long  after  all  its  English¬ 
men  should  be  set  free  and  made  over  into  Ameri¬ 
cans.  Therefore,  as  George  Washington  was  born 
to  be  a  ruler  in  that  day  and  time,  he  was  born  into 
a  family  of  the  highest  grade  of  the  ruling  caste. 
One  hundred  years  later  another  really  great  ruler 
of  the  same  country,  Abraham  Lincoln,  was  born  in 
a  log  hut  ;  but  he  had  the  privilege  of  being  an 
American  from  the  beginning,  and  to  live  and  grow 
up  among  Americans.  He  owed  that  benefit,  in 
large  part,  to  the  little  fellow  whose  cradle  was 
rocked  in  the  farm-house  on  Bridges  Creek,  Vir¬ 
ginia. 

Augustine  Washington,  the  father  of  George,  was 
twice  married.  By  his  first  wife,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Jane  Butler,  he  had  four  children,  two  of 
whom  died  in  infancy,  and  two,  Lawrence  and 
Augustine,  grew  to  be  men.  By  his  second  wife, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Mary  Ball,  he  had  four 
sons — George,  Samuel,  John  Augustine  and  Charles 
—and  two  daughters,  Elizabeth  and  Mildred.  The 
latter  died  in  infancy.  There  was  less  danger  that 
a  boy  should  be  petted  or  spoiled  among  a  family  of 
seven.  There  was  none  at  all,  when  it  was  presided 
over  by  a  woman  of  firm  will,  clear  good  sense,  and 


4 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


sound  principles,  like  Mrs.  Mary  Washington.  The 
ideas  of  home  and  family  discipline  that  prevailed 
in  those  days  were  righteously  rigid,  and  were  well 
‘lived  up  to  in  the  Washington  household. 

While  George  was  still  a  baby  his  father  removed 
to  an  estate  in  Stafford  County,  Virginia,  near  the 
town  of  Fredericksburg.  The  style  of  this  farm¬ 
house  was  much  like  that  of  the  one  on  Bridges 
Creek,  and  from  the  door  of  it  the  land  sloped  down 
to  the  bank  of  the  Rappahannock  River.  Both 
houses  have  long  since  disappeared  entirely,  and  all 
the  face  of  the  country  at  either  point  has  changed. 

Properly  speaking,  there  were  no  cities  in  the 
colonies,  even  New  York  and  Philadelphia  and 
Boston  being  only  larger  towns  ;  but  it  was  well  for 
George  Washington  every  way  that  he  should  be 
thoroughly  a  country  boy.  Rich  planters  like 
Augustine  Washington  were  in  the  habit  of  sending 
their  sons  to  England  for  the  completion  of  their 
education,  and  so  Lawrence  Washington  went, 
when  he  was  about  fifteen  years  of  age.  It  was 
not  to  be  so  with  George.  His  education  began 
at  home,  under  the  care  of  his  father  and  mother, 
both  of  whom  were  good  teachers.  He  was  never 
to  have  any  great  amount  of  book  schooling,  and 
he  was  never  to  need  any.  The  life  work  before 
him  required  precisely  the  kind  of  training  that 
came  to  him,  year  after  year.  Hardly  anything  is 
known  of  the  “  old  field  school-house”  kept  by  Mr. 
Hobby,  the  parish  sexton,  where  George  received 
his  earlier  lessons  in  reading,  writing,  arithmetic, 
and  whatever  else  the  schoolmaster  was  capable  of 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


5 


teaching.  The  one  thing  certain,  to  this  day,  is 
that  he  made  good  use  of  such  advantages  as  he 
had.  He  was  notably  large  and  strong  for  his  age, 
overflowing  with  health,  vigor,  high  spirits,  and  al¬ 
ready  displayed  a  keen  sense  of  right  and  wrong. 
The  Washingtons,  as  far  back  as  the  family  could 
be  traced,  had  shown  a  liking  for  military  affairs. 
It  was  a  part  of  the  family  inheritance  that  came  to 
George  naturally.  It  developed  all  the  more  easily 
because  those  old  colonial  days  were  one  long  record 
of  fighting  by  land  and  sea.  Every  boy’s  memory 
was  full  of  stories  he  had  heard,  by  his  own  fireside 
and  elsewhere,  of  battles  with  the  Indians,  the 
Spaniards,  or  the  French.  Not  one  small  Virginian 
had  a  doubt  but  that  he  should  one  day  be  a  sol¬ 
dier  and  distinguish  himself.  Every  boy  of  them 
who  grew  to  manhood  was  sure  of  abundant  oppor¬ 
tunity,  and  so  George  was  preparing  for  war  from 
the  hour  in  which  he  was  able  to  shoulder  his  first 
broomstick.  He  was  hardly  eight  years  old  when 
his  half-brother,  Lawrence,  returned  from  England, 
having  grown  into  an  uncommonly  promising  young 
man.  Lawrence  was  expected  to  be  the  head  of  the 
family  some  day,  and  to  keep  up  the  high  Washing¬ 
ton  name.  It  is  not  always  easy  to  determine  be¬ 
forehand  which  of  half  a  dozen  growing  boys  is  to 
be  the  head  of  the  family,  but  Lawrence  began  well. 
The  English  nation  was  at  war  with  France  and 
Spain,  and  an  English  force  was  gathered  for  a  cam¬ 
paign  in  the  Spanish  West  Indies.  A  regiment  of 
four  battalions  was  raised  in  the  colonies  to  join  this 
expedition,  and  Lawrence  obtained  the  captaincy  of 


6 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


a  company  in  one  of  these  battalions.  He  went  to 
the  West  Indies  with  the  expedition,  and  at  the 
siege  of  Carthagena  he  and  his  men  behaved  bravely 
under  fire.  The  campaign  was  a  failure  in  many 
ways,  but  it  did  a  great  service  in  the  effect  it  had 
upon  the  mind  of  George  Washington.  It  stirred 
him  up  so  thoroughly  that  he  turned  the  boys  of  the 
parish  school  into  military  cadets,  and  took  com¬ 
mand  of  them.  A  boy  named  William  Bustle  was 
the  next  in  command,  but  was  never  afterward  heard 
of  as  a  general.  Drills,  parades,  sham  fights,  were 
the  games  played  out  of  school  hours,  and  a  num¬ 
ber  of  very  important  lessons  were  learned  in  them. 
Besides  all  this,  however,  there  was  a  great  deal  for 
an  active  boy  to  do  in  every  direction.  The  fishing 
and  hunting  were  all  that  any  one  could  ask  for. 
Horses  were  abundant,  everybody  learned  to  ride  in 
early  childhood,  and  George  was  a  horseman  from 
the  day  in  which  he  was  permitted  to  mount  a  pony. 

All  things  went  on  smoothly  until  George  was 
about  eleven  years  of  age.  At  this  time  his  father 
died,  after  a  brief  illness,  and  the  affairs  of  the  fam¬ 
ily  underwent  a  swift  and  great  change.  The  estate 
was  divided  among  the  children  by  the  will  left  by 
Mr.  Washington,  and  George  was  to  have  the  house 
on  the  Rappahannock  and  the  lands  around  it  as 
soon  as  he  should  become  of  age.  His  half-brother, 
Lawrence,  received  the  estate  on  the  Potomac 
River,  with  other  property.  He  soon  married  and 
went  to  live  there,  and  called  it  Mount  Vernon,  in 
honor  of  an  English  admiral  whom  he  had  served 
under  in  the  West  India  campaign.  Augustine,  the 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


7 


next  younger  son,  also  married,  and  went  to  live  in 
the  old  farm-house  on  Bridges  Creek. 

The  younger  children  were  left  under  the  care  of 
their  mother,  and  she  had  entire  control  of  the 
property  they  were  one  day  to  receive.  She  was  a 
capital  manager,  and  her  husband  had  left  matters 
in  good  order  for  her.  Her  elder  son  inherited  his 
hot  temper  and  spirit  of  command  from  her  as  much 
as  from  the  Washington  family  ;  and  from  her,  as 
from  his  father,  he  was  taught  to  keep  both  under 
strict  control.  Kept  in  subjection,  they  were  great 
gifts,  considering  the  life  he  was  to  lead  and  the 
deeds  he  was  to  do. 

Mrs.  Washington,  it  is  related,  was  in  the  daily 
habit  of  calling  her  children  around  her  and  reading 
to  them  aloud,  teaching  them  sound  maxims  of  daily 
life  and  deep  truths  of  religion.  It  was  a  home 
school  in  which  her  older  son,  at  least,  was  training 
well  ;  but  she  was  aware  that  he  now  needed  some¬ 
thing  more.  There  was  a  school  of  good  reputation 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  homestead  on  Bridges 
Creek,  and  she  sent  him  to  get  the  benefit  of  it  and 
to  make  his  home  with  his  half-brother,  Augustine. 

Only  the  ordinary  branches  of  what  is  now 
called  a  “  common  school  ”  education  seem  to  have 
been  taught  by  Mr.  Williams,  under  whose  care 
George  Washington  now  passed  from  that  of  Mr. 
Hobby.  He  did  not  then,  or  afterward,  pay  any 
attention  to  Latin  or  Greek,  or  what  are  called 
“the  higher  branches.  “  What  he  did  do  was  to 
prepare  himself  thoroughly  as  a  man  of  business 
and  as  a  good  plantation  manager.  He  was  getting 


8 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


ready  for  the  business  of  a  national  plantation  with¬ 
out  a  thought  of  it.  Some  of  his  books  of  manu¬ 
script  exercises  have  been  preserved,  and  they  are 
models  of  neatness.  He  did  one  very  important 
piece  of  work  beyond  his  set  tasks,  moreover.  Be¬ 
fore  he  was  thirteen  years  of  age  he  had  copied  into 
a  blank  book  of  his  own  the  regular  forms  of  the 
papers  used  by  merchants  and  lawyers,  such  as  bills 
of  exchange,  promissory  notes,  deeds  for  real  estate, 
bonds  of  various  kinds,  and  other  papers  provided 
for  by  the  law  of  the  Virginia  colony.  In  all  his 
after  life  the  accounts  he  kept  of  his  private  affairs 
and  of  his  dealings  with  other  men,  and  of  his  public 
financial  transactions,  bear  witness  to  the  patience 
with  which  he  learned  how  to  do  it  when  he  was  a 
boy. 

Among  all  the  pupils  of  Mr.  Williams,  there  was 
not  one  more  healthily  boyish  boy  than  George. 
He  was  tall  and  strongly  built,  and  he  excelled  in  all 
athletic  exercises,  such  as  running,  leaping,  pitching 
quoits,  tossing  the  bar,  and  he  was  a  first-class  wrest¬ 
ler.  The  spot  where  he  one  day  threw  a  stone  clean 
across  the  Rappahannock  is  still  pointed  out,  near 
Fredericksburg.  He  grew  more  and  more  fond  of 
horses,  and  became  a  skilful  and  daring  rider.  No 
animal  was  too  spirited  for  him  to  mount  and  man¬ 
age.  Full  of  fun,  courage,  and  love  of  adventure, 
he  was  the  very  boy  to  become  a  leader  of  boys.  It 
is  quite  likely  that  he  was  self-willed  and  arbitrary, 
but  he  had  too  keen  a  sense  of  justice  to  be  mean 
or  tyrannical.  So  well  did  the  other  boys  under¬ 
stand  him  in  this  respect,  that  they  were  in  the  habit 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


9 


of  bringing  their  disputes  to  him  for  settlement,  and 
his  decisions  were  always  regarded  as  final.  It  was 
an  important  part  of  his  education  that  he  made 
himself  a  judge,  as  well  as  a  captain,  while  he  was 
mastering  his  geography  and  grammar 


CHAPTER  II. 


The  Sea- fever. — Great  Friends. —  Tales  of  Adventure. 

—  The  Young  Surveyor. — A  Love-affair. — Rules 

for  Good  Behavior. — Into  the  Backwoods . 

Augustine  and  Lawrence  Washington  appear  to 
have  been  thoroughly  manly  men.  They  were  Eng¬ 
lish  country  gentlemen  of  high  descent,  residing  in 
an  English  colony,  and  they  lived  as  they  deemed 
becoming  for  men  of  their  rank  and  station.  They 
watched  over  their  younger  brother,  George,  with  a 
care  that  was  almost  fatherly,  and  were  proud  of 
having  so  fine  a  boy  in  the  family.  He  had,  in  fact, 
almost  everything  that  a  healthy  young  heart  could 
wish,  or  that  the  time  and  the  country  he  lived  in 
could  afford.  His  social  advantages  were  such  as 
might  easily  have  spoiled  a  boy  of  weaker  mind  or 
of  unsound  principles.  Other  Virginia  boys  some¬ 
what  similarly  circumstanced  were  growing  up  by 
the  dozen  to  be  idle  and  self-indulgent  young  men, 
and  to  reap  a  lifelong  harvest  of  worthlessness. 

The  Virginia  colonial  legislature  was  called  the 
House  of  Burgesses,  and  Lawrence  Washington  was 
a  member  of  it.  He  was  also  adjutant-general  of 
the  district,  with  the  rank  of  major.  Military  men 
and  others  active  in  public  affairs  were  fond  of  com¬ 
ing  to  partake  of  the  liberal  hospitality  of  Mount 
Vernon.  George  was  a  frequent  visitor  there,  and 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


11 


heard  the  talk  of  these  men.  A  near  neighbor,  at 
a  beautiful  place  called  Belvoir,  was  the  Honorable 
William  Fairfax,  and  he  too  had  been  a  soldier.  He 
had,  among  other  exploits,  helped  to  drive  the 
pirates  from  the  island  of  New  Providence,  in  the 
West  Indies,  and  had  been  made  governor  of  it  for 
a  time.  At  his  house,  also,  George  was  made 
heartily  welcome,  and  here  he  heard  more  about  old 
wars  and  new.  There  were  no  newspapers  or  maga¬ 
zines  for  him  to  read.  The  time  of  the  railway  and 
telegraph  had  not  arrived,  and  all  news  travelled 
slowly.  Perhaps  it  was  just  as  interesting  when  it 
came,  because  it  had  to  be  told  orally  at  the  dinner- 
table,  or  sitting  in  the  shadowy  piazzas  almost  every 
house  was  furnished  with.  From  the  very  first  set¬ 
tlement  of  America  it  had  been  the  custom  of  the 
English  Government  to  make  large  grants  of  land  in 
the  colonies  to  noblemen  and  other  wealthy  gentle¬ 
men,  to  encourage  them  to  spend  money  in  making 
improvements  and  in  promoting  immigration.  It 
was  a  policy  that  had  its  good  side  as  well  as  its  bad. 
Among  other  English  noblemen  who  had  obtained 
immense  colonial  possessions  was  Lord  Fairfax,  and 
these  were  in  the  care  of  his  cousin,  William  Fairfax, 
of  Belvoir.  Important  results  were  to  follow  from 
the  strong  liking  taken  by  this  latter  gentleman  for 
his  boy  visitor. 

English  ships  of  war  continually  cruised  along  the 
Virginia  coast  or  anchored  in  its  harbors.  Every 
now  and  then  one  of  them  sailed  up  the  Potomac. 
Everywhere  the  planters  gladly  welcomed  the 
officers  and  crews  of  these  vessels  when  they  came 


12 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


ashore,  and  listened  eagerly  to  their  stories  of  the 
sea.  The  navy  was  always  the  favorite  service  of 
the  English  nation,  and  spirited  English  boys  were 
almost  sure  to  have  an  attack  of  “  sea-fever”  at  one 
time  or  another.  It  was  an  age  of  great  discoveries, 
of  wonderfully  romantic  voyages  in  unknown  seas, 
and  of  numberless  sea-fights  between  the  navies  of 
the  nations  that  were  contending  for  the  commercial 
empire  of  the  world.  George  listened  to  all  the  sea- 
stories,  and  he  caught  the  sea-fever.  He  determined 
to  become  a  sailor,  and  his  brother  Lawrence  en¬ 
couraged  the  idea.  He,  too,  had  sailed,  though  not 
as  a  naval  officer,  under  Admiral  Vernon,  and  under¬ 
stood  his  brother’s  salt-water  enthusiasm.  The  navy 
was  a  high-road  to  fame  and  honor  and  rank,  and 
there  was  no  reason  why  George  should  not  serve 
his  country  in  that  manner.  It  was  not  easy  to  get 
Mrs.  Washington’s  consent,  but  she  at  last  seemed 
to  have  yielded  to  much  persuasion.  A  midship¬ 
man’s  commission  was  obtained  for  George  in  the 
British  navy,  and  he  was  fully  prepared  to  take  his 
berth  on  board  a  man-of-war  that  had  anchored  in 
the  Potomac  below  Mount  Vernon.  Some  say  that 
his  baggage  was  actually  sent  on  board  ;  but,  how¬ 
ever  that  may  be,  his  mother’s  heart  failed  her,  and 
she  refused  to  let  him  go.  He  may  not  have  been 
in  any  hurtful  sense  her  favorite,  but  he  was  her  first¬ 
born,  and  she  could  not  bear  to  send  him  from  her 
so  entirely  and  so  finally.  But  for  her  decision  he 
would  have  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  King 
of  England,  and  he  could  not  possibly  have  broken 
it,  even  if,  in  after  years,  it  had  compelled  him  to 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


J3 


lead  British  sailors  or  soldiers  in  any  struggle  be¬ 
tween  England  and  her  American  colonies. 

George  gave  up  forever  his  dream  of  the  sea,  and 
went  back  to  school ;  for  nearly  two  years  more 
he  remained  with  his  books,  giving  especial  atten¬ 
tion  to  mathematics,  and  acquiring  a  training  that 
was  soon  to  have  practical  uses.  There  is  no  record 
that  he  had  any  instruction  in  the  branches  of 
mathematics  applying  directly  to  military  affairs, 
but  all  he  learned  was  sure  to  be  in  good  shape  for 
employment  when  the  time  should  come.  He  ap¬ 
plied  himself  energetically  to  the  acquisition  of  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  land-surveying.  He  made 
actual  surveys  in  his  own  neighborhood,  keeping 
regular  field-books,  precisely  as  if  he  had  been  hired 
to  do  so,  and  these  proofs  of  his  fidelity  to  the  pur¬ 
pose  in  his  mind  are  still  in  existence.  It  was  a 
marvellous  thing  for  a  mere  boy  of  fifteen  to  do, 
and  he  gained  thereby  a  vast  deal  more  than  a  mere 
facility  in  measuring  land.  He  must  have  overcome 
many  a  strong  inclination  to  go  riding  or  fishing  or 
shooting,  or  into  the  pleasure-loving  society  that 
was  everywhere  open  to  him.  All  those  fanciful 
surveys  cost  him  something,  and  they  brought  him 
in  rich  returns. 

It  appears  from  some  of  the  manuscripts  unearthed 
by  his  biographers  that  George  did  not  by  any  means 
escape  the  romantic  side  of  boy  life,  and  that  his 
sea-fever  was  not  his  only  enthusiasm.  At  about 
this  time  he  formed  an  attachment  for  some  young 
lady  whose  name  is  unknown,  but  who  seems  to  have 
caused  him  considerable  unhappiness.  From  the 


14 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


ordinary  law  of  such  matters  it  is  quite  probable 
that  she  was  older  than  himself  and  wiser,  and  that 
she  snubbed  him  for  a  presumptuous  and  overgrown 
school-boy.  At  all  events,  he  was  about  to  have  a 
capital  opportunity  for  getting  cured  of  his  romance 
and  for  seeing  a  side  of  frontier  life  that  was  full  of 
healthy  adventure  and  activity. 

Mrs.  Washington  had  a  large  and  growing  family 
with  her  at  home,  and  when,  in  the  autumn  of  the 
year  1747,  George  left  school,  he  was  permitted  to 
go  and  live  at  Mount  Vernon  with  his  brother  Law¬ 
rence.  This  was  just  the  place  in  which  he  could 
most  easily  recover  from  his  romance,  but  it  clung 
to  him  for  a  while.  It  led  him  to  write  poetry,  and 
to  say  in  rhyme  how  very  miserable  the  hard-hearted 
young  lady  had  made  him. 

The  young  Virginian  was  about  to  see  a  great  deal 
of  what  is  called  “  society,”  and  for  this  also  he  had 
carefully  and  methodically  prepared  himself  during 
his  later  school-days.  The  rules  of  etiquette  were  ex¬ 
ceedingly  minute,  formal,  and  rigid,  and  any  young 
man  ignorant  or  careless  of  them  was  likely  to  stum¬ 
ble  into  being  ridiculed.  It  is  very  certain  that  both 
Mrs.  Washington  and  her  husband  had  carefully  in¬ 
structed  their  children  in  all  the  requirements  of 
their  expected  station  in  life,  and  it  is  equally  sure 
that  George  had  not  forgotten  one  rule  taught  him. 
As  his  knowledge  of  social  etiquette  increased,  he 
set  himself  to  the  compilation  of  a  code  which  he 
entitled  “  Rules  for  Behavior  in  Company  and  Con¬ 
versation.”  It  is  yet  in  existence,  in  manuscript, 
and  is  exceedingly  exacting.  Its  author  had  a  right 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


*5 


to  consider  himself  pretty  well  prepared  to  venture 
among  the  precise  and  dignified  ladies  and  gentle¬ 
men  whom  he  was  sure  to  meet  at  Mount  Vernon 
and  the  neighboring  manor-houses. 

By  his  enthusiasm  for  horses  and  hunting,  quite 
as  much  as  by  his  other  good  qualities,  George  had 
made  himself  a  favorite  with  William  Fairfax,  and 
was  a  welcome  visitor  at  Belvoir.  Here  he  was  now 
to  meet  Lord  Fairfax,  the  English  nobleman  of 
whose  vast  colonial  estates  his  cousin  William  was 
the  agent  and  manager.  His  lordship’s  history  had 
been  decidedly  romantic,  and  a  matrimonial  disap¬ 
pointment  had  disgusted  him  with  English  society. 
He  had  come  to  America  to  see  his  property,  with 
the  avowed  intention  of  remaining  upon  it.  The 
original  grant  was  made  by  King  Charles  II.  to  Lord 
Culpeper,  and  had  descended  to  his  daughter 
Catharine,  the  mother  of  Lord  Fairfax.  Through 
her  he  owned,  somewhat  vaguely,  “  all  the  land  be¬ 
tween  the  Potomac  and  Rappahannock  Rivers.” 
He  had  previously  visited  America,  in  the  year  1739, 
and  had  then  discovered  that  the  sources  of  the 
Potomac  were  in  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  He  at¬ 
tempted  to  perfect  his  title  to  the  entire  tract  indi¬ 
cated,  accordingly,  but  was  compelled  to  yield  to  a 
compromise  which  yet  left  him  owner  of  a  large  part 
of  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  It  was  all  wild  land  and 
unsurveyed,  and  it  was  reported  to  Lord  Fairfax  that 
numbers  of  “  squatters  ”  were  intruding  upon  it  and 
making  themselves  entirely  at  home,  without  refer¬ 
ence  to  his  rights  from  the  king.  He  determined, 
shortly,  to  have  the  entire  domain  surveyed  and 


i6 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


mapped  and  set  in  order  for  legal  and  regular  occu¬ 
pation.  He  had  found  a  young  surveyor  who  could, 
he  thought,  be  trusted  with  even  so  important  an 
undertaking.  His  lordship  was  a  zealous  fox-hunter, 
and  he  had  discovered  that  his  favorite  sport  required 
even  better  and  more  daring  horsemanship  in  Vir¬ 
ginia  than  in  England.  He  had  also  discovered  that 
young  George  Washington,  although  hardly  sixteen 
years  of  age,  could  keep  the  saddle  at  his  side  over 
the  roughest  kind  of  country.  He  knew  that  George 
continued,  in  spite  of  all  the  good  society  at  Mount 
Vernon,  to  keep  up  his  regular  surveying  exercises, 
and  he  proposed  to  him  to  exchange  his  mere  prac¬ 
tice  work  for  the  great  enterprise  beyond  the  Blue 
Ridge. 

In  size,  strength,  manners,  and,  above  all,  in  char¬ 
acter  and  ability,  the  boy-surveyor  was  and  looked 
very  much  beyond  his  years.  He  had  made  a  man 
of  himself  with  the  most  determined  fidelity,  and 
now  that  a  man’s  work  was  offered  him,  he  accepted 
it  at  once.  Only  a  few  days  were  needed  to  prepare 
the  surveying  expedition,  and  it  was  decided  that 
George  William,  the  elder  son  of  William  Fairfax, 
of  Belvoir,  should  go  with  it.  Fie  was  a  young  man 
of  fine  promise,  educated  in  England.  He  was 
about  twenty-two  years  of  age,  and  recently  married. 

The  two  young  men  set  out,  on  horseback,  in  the 
month  of  March,  1748.  Through  what  is  still  called 
Ashley’s  Gap  they  passed  the  Blue  Ridge  into  the 
great  and  fertile  valley  of  Virginia.  They  had  left 
all  the  settled  and  well-known  part  of  the  colony  be¬ 
hind  them.  They  were  in  a  wilderness  that  prom- 


GEORGE  WA  SUING  TON. 


17 


ised  them  all  manner  of  hard  work,  exposure,  ad¬ 
venture,  and  more  than  a  little  danger. 

Lord  Fairfax  had  already  posted  an  agent,  a  sort 
of  land-steward,  to  assert  his  claim  for  him  at  a 
point  near  the  Shenandoah  River  about  twelve  miles 
from  the  present  town  of  Winchester.  A  house  had 
been  built  and  a  beginning  of  a  farm  made,  with 
negro  slaves  to  do  the  work,  and  here  the  surveyor 
and  his  companion  made  their  first  lodging.  It  was 
a  wild  and  beautiful  spot,  and  George  Washington 
noted  in  his  diary  that  fact  as  carefully  and  method¬ 
ically  as  he  wrote  out  his  opinions  of  the  soil  and 
timber. 

Surveying  operations  began  at  once,  and  were 
pushed  with  vigor  ;  but,  even  in  Virginia,  March 
weather  is  unfavorable  to  camping  out  in  the  woods, 
with  or  without  a  tent.  It  was  possible  to  obtain 
shelter  in  the  cabins  of  the  squatters,  here  and  there, 
but  the  accommodations  in  these  were  not  at  all  like 
the  faultlessly-kept  apartments  at  Mount  Vernon. 
Here  began,  therefore,  before  their  own  firesides, 
such  studies  of  the  people  by  their  future  leader  as 
were  to  be  of  life-long  use  to  him.  Here  he  first 
began  to  get  practical  lessons  of  the  rough  life  of  the 
backwoods.  He  hardened  to  it  rapidly,  preferring 
to  bivouac  in  the  open  air  whenever  the  weather 
permitted,  and  pushing  his  surveys  with  persistent 
diligence. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Lessons  of  Frontier  Life. — A  War  Party. — Good  Pay. 
— A  Public  Appointment. — France,  England,  and 
the  Ohio  Wilderness. — Flow  the  King  Gave  away 
the  Land  he  did  not  Own. — A  Young  Major. 

George  Washington’s  great-grandfather,  Col¬ 
onel  John  Washington,  commanded  the  troops  of 
Maryland  and  Virginia  in  a  campaign  against  the 
marauding  Senecas.  In  his  day  the  settlements  on 
the  Potomac  River  were  in  constant  peril,  but  now, 
three  generations  later,  the  Virginia  frontier  had 
drifted  westward  as  far  as  the  mountains.  Such  few 
Indians  as  were  ever  seen  by  the  planters  and  their 
families  were  in  the  settlements  on  peaceful  errands, 
and  George  had  no  knowledge  of  them  beyond  the 
stories  he  had  heard  and  the  few  stragglers  he  may 
have  met. 

Not  long  after  the  surveying  work  began,  the 
party  was  detained  for  several  days  by  bad  weather 
at  the  house  of  a  Colonel  Cresap,  near  the  Potomac 
River.  While  they  were  there  a  war  party  of  thirty 
Indians  halted  at  the  house.  They  had  been  upon 
an  expedition  against  other  Indians,  and  had  one 
scalp  to  show,  but  were  at  peace  with  the  white  men. 
The  promise  of  **  fire-water  ”  induced  them  to  ex¬ 
hibit  a  war  dance  for  the  benefit  of  Colonel  Cresap 
and  his  guests.  It  was  a  hideous  presentation  of 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


19 


savage  life,  full  of  whoops  and  yells  and  mimic 
cruelties,  and  it  was  a  valuable  object  lesson  to  the 
school-boy  from  Bridges  Creek.  He  was  to  be  a 
distinguished  Indian  fighter  before  a  great  while, 
and  a  war  party  and  a  war  dance  made  a  study  worth 
having.  His  diary  testifies  that  he  studied  faithfully. 

The  surveying  expedition  was  also  a  hunting 
party.  Deer  and  wild  turkeys  were  abundant,  and 
each  man  did  his  own  cooking.  The  weather  con¬ 
tinued  to  be  somewhat  stormy,  and  the  tent  they 
had  with  them  was  not  a  good  one.  It  let  in  the 
rain,  blew  down,  and  added  other  incidents  of  camp- 
life  for  young  beginners. 

The  squatters  in  the  great  valley  were  by  no  means 
indifferent  to  the  plans  and  purposes  of  Lord  Fair¬ 
fax.  Numbers  of  them  came  to  see  his  surveyors, 
and  even  followed  them  from  place  to  place.  Among 
them  were  German  immigrants,  with  their  wives  and 
children,  ignorant  of  English,  and  offering  the  rich 
planter’s  son  yet  another  lesson  of  human  life.  As 
the  spring  days  went  by  and  the  weather  improved, 
all  work  became  more  agreeable.  There  was  little 
hardship  in  camp-life  thenceforth,  but  George  was 
able  to  write  to  a  friend,  on  his  return,  that  he  had 
passed  but  three  or  four  nights  in  bed.  Sleeping 
on  the  floor  of  a  cabin,  before  a  settler’s  fireplace, 
was  not  counted  as  going  to  bed.  He  was  also  able 
to  make  such  a  report  to  Lord  Fairfax  as  was  en¬ 
tirely  satisfactory,  and  his  account-book  shows  that 
he  received  a  doubloon  a  day  and  sometimes  more — 
or  from  sixteen  to  twenty  dollars — for  all  the  time 
during  which  he  was  actively  engaged  in  surveying. 


20 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


So  complete  was  his  lordship's  approval,  that  he  ob¬ 
tained  for  his  young  friend  the  appointment  of 
public  surveyor.  This  made  his  surveys  official,  and 
entitled  them  to  record  in  the  county  courts  ;  and 
to  this  day  their  correctness  is  acknowledged,  and 
implicit  credit  is  given  them. 

There  were  not  many  public  surveyors,  and  there 
was  a  vast  region  to  be  laid  out.  For  three  years 
following  this  first  expedition,  young  Washington 
was  almost  constantly  occupied  in  the  wilderness. 
It  was  a  grand  school  for  any  boy  who  was  com¬ 
petent  to  learn  the  lessons  taught  in  it,  but  it  was 
precisely  like  all  other  schools.  George  Washington 
learned  in  it  what  the  other  young  fellows  there 
never  dreamed  of  learning.  At  the  end  of  his  three 
years  of  frontier  apprenticeship  as  a  public  surveyor, - 
he  was  a  man  in  personal  appearance.  He  was  well 
and  widely  known  through  all  that  section  of  coun¬ 
try  as  he  hardly  could  have  become  in  any  other 
manner.  He  was  about  to  receive  another  highly 
important  part  of  his  education,  and  another  swift 
and  remarkable  advancement. 

When  England  and  France  made  peace  fora  time 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  they  settled  their  European  dis¬ 
putes  and  some  colonial  difficulties,  but  left  one 
great  question  untouched.  All  the  central  part  of 
the  continent  of  North  America  below  the  great 
lakes  had  really  no  owner.  The  Indian  tribes  drove 
each  other  about  in  it,  but  no  wild  band  had  a  title 
to  an  acre  upon  which  it  had  not  destroyed  or  from 
which  it  had  not  forced  away  some  other  band.  The 
French  held  the  Canadas,  and  claimed  all  the  country 


WASHINGTON  AS  A  SURVEYOR. 


From  “  Harper' s  Young  People 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


21 


to  the  westward.  They  held  the  mouth  of  the  Mis¬ 
sissippi,  and  therefore  claimed  the  ownership  of  that 
river  to  its  source,  and  of  all  the  land  on  all  its 
tributary  streams  to  their  sources.  England  denied 
the  justice  of  this  tremendous  assumption,  and 
claimed  an  undefined  region  west  of  the  Alleghanies 
by  virtue  of  sundry  shadowy  Indian  treaties.  That 
there  would  be  a  war  about  it  in  the  end  was  as  sure 
as  anything  human  could  be,  and  in  the  mean  time 
the  two  white  nations  set  at  work  to  occupy  as  much 
territory  as  they  could,  intriguing  with  the  Indians, 
exploring  and  obtaining  a  higher  and  higher  opin¬ 
ion  of  the  great  territorial  prize  out  of  which  so 
many  rich  and  populous  States  have  since  been 
formed.  All  up  and  down  the  Ohio  River  the 
French  nailed  to  trees,  at  the  mouths  of  its  tribu¬ 
taries,  leaden  plates  with  inscriptions  claiming  the 
country  around  as  the  property  of  their  king.  They 
also  made  presents  to  the  Indians,  and  read  to  them 
the  inscriptions,  and  the  red  men  wisely  went  away 
and  told  the  English  and  obtained  larger  presents 
from  them,  and  appointed  days  for  future  councils 
at  which  they  might  receive  yet  more. 

The  Virginia  colonists  and  those  of  Pennsylvania 
were  generally  and  deeply  interested  in  the  future 
ownership  of  the  country  westward  of  them.  They 
began  to  form  plans  for  its  seizure,  occupation,  and 
settlement.  Among  those  who  took  an  active  part 
were  the  brothers  Lawrence  and  Augustine  Washing¬ 
ton.  They  joined  with  John  Hanbury,  a  rich  mer¬ 
chant  of  London,  and  others,  in  obtaining  from  the 
British  Government  a  grant  of  five  hundred  thousand 


22 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


acres  of  land  between  the  Kanawha  and  Mononga- 
hela  Rivers  and  the  Ohio  River,  with  aright  of  locat¬ 
ing  part  of  it  north  of  the  Ohio.  They  formed  an 
association  and  named  it  “The  Ohio  Company.” 
The  first  chief  manager  of  the  company  was  Mr. 
Thomas  Lee,  President  of  the  Council  of  the  Vir¬ 
ginia  Colony,  and  at  his  death,  occurring  soon  after¬ 
ward,  he  was  succeeded  by  Lawrence  Washington. 
The  active  operations  of  the  company  included  the 
importation  of  goods  from  England  for  trading  with 
the  Indians,  but  the  most  valuable  of  all  the  results 
of  the  enterprise  was  the  knowledge  obtained  of  the 
new  country  by  the  agents  they  sent  out  to  explore 
it  and  to  make  treaties  with  the  red  men.  It  is  well 
worthy  of  note  that  Lawrence  Washington  zealously 
advocated  the  preservation  of  religious  freedom 
among  any  settlements  that  might  be  made,  point¬ 
ing  out  to  the  authorities  the  pernicious  effect  of  in¬ 
tolerance  upon  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  Vir¬ 
ginia.  It  was  at  least  good  teaching  for  his  brother  ; 
but  the  Ohio  settlers  were  to  provide  for  their  own 
religious  freedom  in  due  time.  There  might  have 
been  a  very  profitable  career  opened  to  ”  The  Ohio 
Company”  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  French. 
Their  explorers  and  agents  and  intriguers,  red  and 
white,  were  as  numerous  and  as  capable  as  were 
those  of  the  Virginians  and  Pennsylvanians.  Each 
side  was  well  aware  of  what  the  other  was  doing, 
and  each  knew  that  the  time  for  open  hostilities 
drew  nearer  from  day  to  day.  The  French  built  a 
large  armed  vessel  to  cruise  on  Lake  Ontario, 
strengthened  and  increased  their  trading  stations, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


23 


and  established  others  deeper  in  the  contested 
region. 

There  was  a  warlike  spirit  abroad  in  all  the  colo¬ 
nies,  but  it  was  specially  aroused  in  Virginia.  A 
plan  was  adopted  for  the  organization  and  equip¬ 
ment  of  the  militia.  The  entire  colony  was  divided 
into  military  districts,  and  over  each  of  these  was 
appointed  an  adjutant-general  with  the  rank  of 
major,  and  with  a  salary  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  a  year.  Lawrence  Washington  had  entire 
confidence  in  the  capacity  of  his  brother  George, 
and  easily  obtained  for  him  one  of  these  appoint¬ 
ments.  He  was  thenceforth  Major  George  Wash¬ 
ington,  until  promotion  should  give  him  a  higher 
title.  The  nineteen-years-old  major  felt  that  he 
was  somewhat  lacking  in  military  knowledge  and 
training,  and  at  once  obtained  the  best  teachers 
within  his  reach.  Two  old  soldiers,  veterans  of  the 
French  and  Spanish  wars,  had  drifted  into  the  neigh¬ 
borhood.  One  of  these,  Adjutant  Muse,  had  been 
a  comrade  of  Lawrence  Washington  in  the  West 
Indies,  and  he  now  undertook  the  general  military 
instruction  of  the  newly-fledged  major.  He  taught 
him  the  manual  exercise  and  all  he  knew  of  the 
movement  of  troops  in  the  field,  but  it  was  probably 
of  greater  importance  that  he  was  able  to  lend  him 
treatises  on  the  art  of  war  to  study  at  home.  The 
contents  of  every  such  book  were  sure  to  be  thorough¬ 
ly  mastered  and  never  to  be  forgotten.  The  other 
old  soldier,  also  a  former  comrade  of  Lawrence,  was 
by  birth  a  Dutchman.  His  name  was  Jacob  Van 
Braam,  and  he  professed  to  be  a  master  of  swords- 


24 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


manship.  From  him  George  received  lessons  in  the 
use  of  what  was  then  a  much  more  important  weapon 
than  it  is  nowadays. 

Yet  another  change  was  coming  rapidly.  Law¬ 
rence  Washington  had  never  been  a  man  of  strong 
constitution,  his  health  requiring  constant  care.  In 
the  midst  of  these  martial  studies  and  exercises,  the 
physicians  announced  that  pulmonary  symptoms 
were  developing,  and  that  a  voyage  to  the  West 
Indies  for  a  change  of  climate  was  imperatively 
necessary.  The  invalid  needed  the  companionship 
of  his  brother  George,  and  the  two  sailed  for  Bar- 
badoes  on  the  28th  of  September,  1751,  landing 
there  on  the  3d  of  November.  The  health  of  Law¬ 
rence  seemed  to  improve  during  the  voyage  and  for 
a  time  after  his  arrival,  but  George  had  been  on 
shore  but  a  fortnight  before  he  was  taken  down  with 
small-pox.  He  was  sick  about  three  weeks,  and 
on  his  recovery  was  but  moderately  marked  by  the 
terrible  disease.  As  soon  as  he  was  able  he  made 
excursions  over  the  island,  studying  its  soil,  produc¬ 
tions,  and  fortifications,  and  noting  in  his  diary  the 
thriftless,  reckless  way  of  living  of  its  land-owning 
classes. 

The  indications  of  improvement  in  Lawrence 
proved  deceitful,  and  he  decided  that  he  would  try 
the  climate  of  Bermuda  in  the  following  spring. 
Meantime  he  wished  his  brother  to  return  to  Vir¬ 
ginia,  in  order  that  if  he  should  send  for  his  wife  to 
meet  him  in  Bermuda,  she  might  do  so  under 
George’s  care.  The  latter  accordingly  sailed  for 
home  on  the  22d  of  December,  and  arrived  on  the 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


25 


1st  of  February,  after  an  uncommonly  stormy  pas¬ 
sage.  Lawrence  Washington  did  indeed  go  to  Ber¬ 
muda  in  the  spring,  but  he  did  not  send  for  his  wife 
to  join  him  there.  His  malady  tormented  him  with 
many  fluctuations,  but  at  last  it  was  evident  that  he 
must  come  home  to  die.  He  lived  to  reach  Mount 
Vernon,  and  died  on  the  26th  of  July,  1752.  He 
was  only  thirty-four  years  old  when  he  passed  away, 
but  he  had  lived  an  active,  patriotic,  and  useful  life. 
Among  other  good  works,  he  had  been  almost  as  a 
father  to  his  brother  George  ;  and  this  country  owes 
him  a  debt  of  gratitude  on  that  account.  He  left 
his  large  property  to  his  wife  and  his  infant  daugh¬ 
ter,  Isabella,  with  the  provision  that  in  case  the 
latter  should  die  before  becoming  of  age  his  wife 
should  have  but  a  life  interest  in  the  Mount  Vernon 
estate,  and  that,  upon  her  death,  it  should  pass  to 
George,  with  some  other  property  named  in  the  will. 
So  it  did  pass  in  due  season. 

It  is  evident  from  the  diary  kept  by  the  youthful 
major  during  his  trip  to  the  West  Indies  and  after¬ 
ward  that  his  thoughts  continued  to  be  given  to  his 
military  studies.  If  it  were  possible  to  draw  him 
away  from  them  and  from  his  public  duties,  the 
temptation  to  retire  to  the  quiet  and  exceedingly 
attractive  life  of  a  rich  Virginia  planter  was  now  set 
before  him.  The  affairs  devolving  upon  him  by  the 
death  of  his  brother  made  him  more  than  ever  at 
home  at  Mount  Vernon.  He  would  be  of  age  in  a 
few  months,  and  entitled  to  join  his  mother  in  her 
excellent  management  of  the  Rappahannock  estate. 
Society  invited  him  to  all  the  allurements  the  colony 


26 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


could  offer,  and  he  had  no  need  whatever  for  the 
endurance  of  toil,  privation,  and  danger.  Years  of 
rough  life  in  the  wilderness  seemed  to  entitle  him 
to  repose,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  turned  for 
one  moment  from  the  path  of  duty  ;  and  it  promised 
to  be  a  hard  and  trying  one  even  then. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Further  into  the  Wilderness. — A  Perilous  Errand. — 
Indian  Diplomacy . —  The  Beginning  of  a  Long 
Struggle. —  Through  the  Woods  in  Winter. — Select¬ 
ing  a  Site  for  a  Fort. — Ice-ivater  Adventures. 

One  of  the  first  results  of  Washington’s  earlier 
surveys  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  had  been  the 
establishment  of  Lord  Fairfax  there  as  a  settler  upon 
his  own  land.  He  laid  out  a  manor  of  ten  thousand 
acres,  at  the  point  where  he  had  stationed  his  first 
land  agent,  and  called  it  Greenway  Court.  He  built 
a  comfortable  house,  and  surrounded  himself  with 
all  the  conveniences  called  for  by  the  tastes  of  a  cul¬ 
tivated  and  somewhat  eccentric  sportsman.  From 
that  day  the  tide  of  immigration  set  in  rapidly,  and 
the  growth  of  the  valley  settlements  aided  the  Ohio 
Company  in  their  efforts  to  push  the  frontier  fur¬ 
ther  westward.  Their  most  active  pioneer  and  ex¬ 
plorer  was  a  man  of  rare  energy  and  daring,  named 
Christopher  Gist.  Under  his  direction  several  trad- 
ing-posts  were  established  and  towns  laid  out,  and 
settlers  were  induced  to  take  up  farms,  in  spite  of 
the  continual  rumors  of  troubles  to  come.  One 
secret  of  this  temporary  success  was  the  fact  that 
the  Indian  tribes  occupying  this  region — Delawares, 
Shawnees,  Mingoes,  and  fragmentary  bands  of  other 
tribes — were  jealous  of  the  arrogant  pretensions  of 


28 


GEORGE  WA  SUING  TON. 


the  French,  and  were  strongly  inclined  to  be  friend¬ 
ly  toward  their  nearer  neighbors,  the  English  colo¬ 
nists.  Their  jealousy  was  increased  by  the  fact  that 
the  French  commanders  were  now  erecting  forts  and 
forcing  their  way  in  spite  of  the  earnest  protests  of 
the  red  potentates.  At  a  general  council  held  in 
the  spring  of  the  year  1750,  an  agreement  was  made 
by  them  with  the  commissioners  from  Virginia  that 
no  harm  should  be  done  to  the  English  settlers  south 
of  the  Ohio  River.  All  these  tribes  were  in  a  state 
of  alliance  with  or  subordination  to  the  Six  Nations, 
or  Iroquois,  and  their  head  chief,  Tanacharisson,  was 
called  “  the  half-king  ”  in  consequence.  He  was  a 
warrior  of  good  judgment,  for  he  advised  the  Eng¬ 
lish  to  build  a  fort  at  the  fork  of  the  Monongahela 
River  at  once.  They  made  a  beginning,  but  did  not 
follow  good  counsel  with  sufficient  energy. 

The  French  did  better,  adding  cunning  and  skil¬ 
ful  diplomacy  to  their  other  forces  in  such  a  manner 
that  they  shortly  began  to  alienate  the  good-will  of 
the  red  men  from  their  Virginia  neighbors.  It  is 
also  evident  that  the  display  of  force  made  by  the 
French  was  largely  in  excess  of  that  which  the  short¬ 
sighted  savages  discerned  at  the  trading-stations  of 
the  colonists.  Month  after  month  went  by,  and  at 
last  it  was  credibly  reported  that  French  troops  were 
moving  up  the  Mississippi.  It  was  also  said  that  it 
had  been  determined  to  connect  the  French  posses¬ 
sions  in  Louisiana  and  Canada  by  a  chain  of  military 
posts  that  would  forever  shut  in  the  English  colonies 
at  the  line  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains. 

In  the  absence  of  the  royally-appointed  Governor 


GEORGE  IV A  SUING  TON. 


29 


of  Virginia,  the  lieutenant-governor,  the  Honora¬ 
ble  Robert  Dinvviddie,  was  acting  governor,  and  the 
Ohio  Company  laid  the  matter  before  him.  He  was 
a  stockholder  in  the  company,  and  wished  very 
much  to  do  something,  but  he  had  very  little  power. 
He  had  no  troops,  and  so  he  determined  to  try 
diplomacy.  He  sent  Captain  William  Trent  as  a 
commissioner,  with  presents  for  the  friendly  Indians, 
and  with  a  letter  of  expostulation  to  the  commander 
of  the  French  forces  on  the  Ohio.  Captain  Trent 
was  a  man  of  little  courage  or  capacity,  and  he  made 
a  complete  failure.  He  returned  without  having 
delivered  his  letter,  and  brought  the  doleful  news 
that  the  friendly  Miamis  had  been  defeated  at  their 
town  of  Piqua,  with  severe  losses,  by  the  French 
and  their  Indian  allies.  The  English  traders  at  that 
post  had  been  taken  prisoners,  the  French  flag  had 
been  raised  in  permanent  occupation  of  the  town, 
and  a  staggering  blow  had  been  given  to  the  pros¬ 
pects  of  the  Ohio  Company.  It  was  nearly  certain, 
moreover,  that  English  influence  with  the  fickle  sav¬ 
ages  had  been  badly  shattered. 

Captain  Trent  had  presented  a  perfect  picture  of 
a  man  unfit  to  deal  with  difficulties,  and  Governor 
Dinwiddie  was  really  in  need  of  a  hero.  When  he 
inquired  for  one,  the  men  he  spoke  to  pointed  out 
young  Major  George  Washington  as  the  only  person 
known  to  be  fitted  for  the  business  in  hand.  He 
was  twenty-one  years  of  age  now,  and  had  been  re¬ 
commissioned  as  adjutant.  There  were  other  men 
as  familiar  as  he  with  the  western  frontier,  and  it  is 
evident  that  his  strength  of  character  must  have  im- 


3° 


GEOR  GE  IV A  SUING  TON. 


pressed  itself  powerfully  upon  those  who  knew  him. 
He  received  his  credentials  as  commissioner  on  the 
30th  of  October,  1753,  and  had  evidently  been  ex¬ 
pecting  and  preparing  for  them,  for  he  set  off  upon 
his  errand  that  very  day.  Two  weeks  later  he  met 
Mr.  Christopher  Gist,  the  veteran  pioneer,  at  Wilis’ 
Creek,  the  present  town  of  Cumberland.  He  was 
well  provided  with  horses,  tents,  and  so  forth,  and 
had  with  him  his  old  fencing-master,  Jacob  Van 
Braam,  as  a  makeshift  for  an  interpreter  in  French, 
and  also  an  Indian  interpreter  named  John  David¬ 
son. 

Now  began  a  journey  such  as  few  men  ever  accom¬ 
plished.  The  rivers  were  so  swollen  that  the  horses 
had  to  swim  them,  and  all  baggage  was  sent  down 
the  Monongahela,  to  its  confluence  with  the  Alle¬ 
ghany,  in  a  canoe.  At  this  point  the  united  rivers 
form  the  Ohio,  and  here  now  stands  the  city  of 
Pittsburg.  Washington  reached  it  before  his  canoe¬ 
load  of  baggage  came,  and  he  at  once  looked  around 
him  and  agreed  with  the  half-king,  Tanacharisson. 
It  was  an  excellent  site  for  a  fort  that  should  com¬ 
mand  the  navigation  of  those  rivers.  Shortly  after¬ 
ward  the  French  general  agreed  with  them  both, 
and  built  Fort  Duquesne  there,  to  be  a  thorn  in  the 
side  of  the  English. 

The  chief  sachem  of  the  Delawares,  Shingiss, 
lived  near,  and  consented  to  accompany  Washing¬ 
ton  to  visit  the  half-king,  Tanacharisson,  at  his  head¬ 
quarters  at  Logstown.  They  reached  it  on  the  24th 
of  November,  and  found  the  half-king  absent  ;  but 
runners  were  at  once  sent  out,  and  arrangements 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


31 


made  for  a  grand  council  of  chiefs  next  day.  It  was 
duly  held,  and  so  were  private  conferences  with 
Tanacharisson,  and  the  tone  of  the  red  men  was 
friendly  enough  and  full  of  fair  promises.  From 
them  and  from  some  French  deserters  who  came  to 
the  village  on  their  way  to  Pennsylvania,  Washing¬ 
ton  gathered  a  great  deal  of  important  information 
as  to  the  strength  and  operations  of  the  enemy. 

Among  other  things,  he  learned  that  the  French 
had  built  two  new  forts,  the  larger  upon  the  shore  of 
Lake  Erie,  and  the  other  and  smaller  at  a  distance 
of  fifteen  miles  from  it,  upon  French  Creek.  In  one 
of  these  he  was  to  look  for  the  French  commander 
and  deliver  the  letter  of  Governor  Dinwiddie,  and 
the  path  to  that  fort  was  likely  to  be  a  hard  one  to 
travel.  In  order  to  avoid  low  and  swampy  grounds, 
impassable  at  that  season,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
make  so  wide  a  circuit  that  the  journey  was  likely 
to  take  a  week,  and  every  hour  would  be  full  of 
deadly  peril.  Tanacharisson  agreed  to  furnish  an 
escort  composed  of  Mingoes,  Shannoahs,  and  Dela¬ 
wares,  but  the  most  friendly  Indians  were  evidently 
troubled  in  their  minds.  The  French  commanders 
had  warned  them  that  there  was  to  be  war  with  the 
English  in  the  spring,  and  it  was  dawning  upon  the 
poor  savages  that  they  themselves  had  little  to  hope 
for  from  either  of  the  two  great  peoples  who  claimed 
to  own  all  their  hunting-grounds.  They  had  de¬ 
cided  to  refuse  the  French  alliance  and  to  return  the 
belts  of  wampum  sent  them  from  Canada,  and  they 
seemed  ready  to  keep  their  treaties  with  the  Eng¬ 
lish.  There  were  so  many  talks  and  excuses  and 


32 


GEORGE  WA  SUING  TON. 


delays,  however,  that  it  was  the  30th  of  November 
before  Washington  got  away  from  Logstown.  With 
him  went,  on  a  diplomatic  errand  of  their  own, 
Tanacharisson,  an  old  Shannoah  sachem  called 
Jeshakake,  and  a  chief  named  White  Thunder, 
whose  duty  was  to  return  to  the  French  their  wam¬ 
pum  belts  or  “  treaty  tokens/’  Four  days  of  hard 
work  in  stormy  weather  carried  the  whole  party 
seventy  miles  through  the  woods  to  Venango.  Until 
recently  it  had  been  an  English  trading-station,  but 
was  now  occupied  by  French  troops,  under  command 
of  a  Captain  Joncaire.  Here  the  commissioner  and 
his  company  were  detained  till  the  7th  of  December, 
partly  by  bad  weather,  but  much  more  by  the  wily 
operations  of  the  French  captain,  who  was  a  veteran 
fox  in  frontier  diplomacy,  and  knew  well  how  much 
could  be  done  with  rum  and  promises  in  the  man¬ 
agement  of  savages.  Fie  even  laid  a  trap  to  loosen 
the  tongue  of  the  temperate  Washington  with  wine, 
and  fell  into  it  himself.  He  talked  altogether  too 
freely  at  his  dinner-table,  and  divulged  the  general 
purposes  of  his  superiors  with  what  was  afterward 
found  to  be  accuracy.  An  additional  escort  of  an 
officer  named  La  Force  and  three  French  soldiers 
added  to  the  security  of  Governor  Dinwiddie’s 
prudent  messenger  when  he  again  set  out,  and  four 
days  more  of  struggling  with  mud  and  swamps  and 
snow  and  rains  brought  them  to  the  new  fort  on 
French  Creek.  It  consisted  of  four  block-houses 
connected  by  lines  of  palisades,  and  the  latter  were 
pierced  for  both  cannon  and  musketry.  The  French 
commanding  officer,  the  Chevalier  Legardeur  de  St. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


33 


Pierre,  was  at  the  fort,  and  received  Major  Washing¬ 
ton  with  ceremonious  politeness.  He  had  but  re¬ 
cently  arrived  to  succeed  a  former  commander  who 
had  been  removed  by  d^ath,  and  during  a  brief  in¬ 
terim  the  fort  had  been  in  charge  of  a  Captain  Re¬ 
parti.  The  latter  was  now  absent  at  the  post  on 
Lake  Erie,  but  was  expected  to  return  at  once,  and 
Washington  was  not  permitted  to  offer  his  creden¬ 
tials  until  the  new  commander  could  have  the  benefit 
of  the  captain’s  presence  and  counsel. 

Captain  Reparti  actually  came,  and  there  was  no 
excuse  for  any  further  delay.  The  letter  of  Govern¬ 
or  Dinwiddie  was  duly  delivered  and  read,  and  any 
person  holding  French  views  of  the  situation  had  a 
right  to  consider  it  a  remarkable  document.  It 
began  by  boldly  assuming  that  all  the  Ohio  River 
territory  was  the  property  of  the  King  of  England, 
and  that  the  intruding  Frenchmen  knew  it  to  be  so, 
and  strongly  complained  of  their  manifest  unright¬ 
eousness.  It  asked  by  what  authority  the  French 
Commander-general  had  sent  in  the  forces  now  in 
operation.  It  plainly  requested  their  prompt  with¬ 
drawal,  and  intimated  that  future  consequences 
would  depend  upon  the  answer  now  given.  The 
letter  closed  with  a  request  for  good  treatment  of 
Major  Washington,  and  the  expression  of  a  hope  for 
lasting  peace. 

The  French  chevaliers  took  two  days  to  consider 
that  letter  and  to  find  out  what  they  could  do  with 
the  half-king  and  the  other  chiefs.  They  knew  per¬ 
fectly  well  that  the  Governor  of  Virginia  had  not  the 
slightest  idea  that  they  would  withdraw  at  his  polite 


34 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


request,  and  that  he  had  only  sent  this  tall  young 
major  of  militia  to  find  out  what  forts  they  were 
building  and  what  more  they  meant  to  do.  He 
was  at  it  diligently  all  the  while,  even  bidding  his 
associates  to  count  all  the  canoes  on  hand  at  the 
fort,  and  learn  how  many  more  were  to  be  had  or 
were  building  for  service  on  the  lake  the  following 
spring.  He  was  a  scout  within  the  enemy’s  lines, 
with  very  serious  doubts  of  ever  getting  back  to  his 
own. 

The  French  commander  had  really  very  little  to 
conceal.  He  told  Major  Washington  that  he  had 
orders  to  capture  every  Englishman  caught  trading 
in  the  Ohio  River  country.  Two  from  Pennsylvania 
already  taken  had  been  permitted  to  go  home  by 
way  of  Canada. 

The  weather  was  stormy,  and  Washington  was 
anxious  to  set  out  upon  his  return.  He  had  already 
sent  his  jaded  horses  ahead  of  him  to  Venango,  in¬ 
tending  to  follow  them  by  water.  He  knew  that  his 
hold  upon  Tanacharisson  was  weakening  hourly,  and 
Was  also  of  opinion  that  a  French  force  was  likely  to 
be  in  Logstown  quite  as  soon  as  he  could  get  there, 
with  a  view  to  the  capture  of  English  traders  and 
their  goods.  The  Chevalier  de  St.  Pierre  delivered 
to  him  his  written  reply  to  Governor  Dinwiddie  on 
the  14th  of  December,  but  it  required  two  days  of 
hard  work  to  get  the  half-king  away  from  French 
presents  and  promises  and  rum,  and  the  start  was 
not  accomplished  until  the  16th.  The  navigation  of 
French  Creek  in  winter  was  found  to  be  a  difficult 
undertaking.  It  was  full  of  floating  ice,  and  the 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


35 


bark  canoes  were  in  constant  peril  of  being  broken 
to  pieces.  In  shallow  places  there  was  no  resource 
but  to  wade  in  swiftly-running  ice-water  and  drag 
the  canoes,  half  an  hour  at  a  time  ;  and  at  one  point 
an  ice-pack  compelled  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  overland 
dragging.  On  reaching  Venango  the  patience  of 
the  half-king  and  his  friends  gave  out,  and  they  de¬ 
cided  to  rest  there  with  Captain  Joncaire  and  his 
treacherous  hospitality. 

On  the  25th  of  December  Major  Washington  and 
his  party  set  out  from  Venango,  overland,  with  a 
long  and  terrible  journey  before  them.  He  himself 
set  the  example  of  giving  up  his  horse  to  relieve  the 
tired  pack-horses,  and  the  others  followed,  except 
the  drivers.  He  put  on  an  Indian  hunting  dress,  and 
travelled  on  foot,  and  probably  suffered  less  from 
the  cold  by  so  doing,  for  it  was  bitter  winter  weather. 
It  was  slow  work  as  well  as  weary,  and  Washington 
was  in  haste  to  make  his  report.  At  the  end  of  the 
third  day  of  plodding  he  could  endure  it  no  longer, 
put  the  rest  of  the  party  under  command  of  Van 
Braam,  and  pushed  ahead  with  only  Christopher  Gist 
for  company.  He  meant  to  make  a  direct  course 
through  the  woods  to  the  fork  of  the  Ohio,  intend¬ 
ing  to  cross  the  Alleghany  River  on  the  ice  at  a  place 
called  Shannopins  Town,  two  or  three  miles  above 
the  fork. 

The  two  bold  travellers  slept  on  the  frozen  ground 
the  first  night  by  a  camp  fire,  but  by  two  o’clock  the 
next  morning  they  were  once  more  on  their  way. 
That  day  they  came  to  a  place  called  Murdering 
Town,  on  Beaver  Creek,  and  here  they  met  a  party 


GE  OR  GE  IV A  SUING  TON. 


36 

of  Indians  who  were  so  very  friendly  as  to  arouse 
the  suspicions  of  Mr.  Gist,  who  believed  he  had.  seen 
one  of  them  at  Joncaire’s.  They  had  too  many 
questions  to  ask  of  all  sorts  ;  but,  in  spite  of  Mr. 
Gist’s  suspicions,  one  of  them  was  hired  as  a  guide 
to  Shannopins  Town.  He  made  the  engagement 
eagerly,  and  strapped  Major  Washington’s  pack  on 
his  back  at  once,  and  promised  to  show  the  shortest 
way  through  the  woods.  Washington’s  feet  were 
sore,  and  he  was  much  fatigued.  He  was  glad  to 
part  with  his  pack,  but  at  the  end  of  two  hours  or 
more  of  hard  pushing  he  was  yet  more  weary,  and 
proposed  to  make  a  camp,  light  a  fire,  and  sleep. 
He  was  in  some  doubt  as  to  the  direction  they  were 
taking,  and  the  moment  he  proposed  to  halt,  the 
Indian  guide  began  to  disclose  his  real  character. 
He  offered  to  carry  Washington’s  gun,  and  when 
that  was  objected  to,  he  declared  that  the  woods 
were  full  of  Ottawas,  who  would  be  sure  to  be  at¬ 
tracted  by  the  fire,  and  attack  them.  He  insisted 
strongly  that  they  should  push  on  to  his  own  cabin, 
where  they  could  rest  safely.  Washington  and  Gist 
felt  more  suspicious  of  him  than  ever,  but  walked 
on  for  some  distance.  Then  he  pretended  to  have 
heard  the  report  of  a  gun  to  the  northward,  and 
turned  in  that  direction,  saying  that  it  must  have 
been  fired  near  his  cabin. 

The  two  white  men  knew  that  many  of  the  Indians 
were  secret  enemies,  even  of  those  who  were  not  in 
open  alliance  with  the  French,  and  there  was  no  tell¬ 
ing  what  measures  had  been  taken  to  prevent  a  full 
statement  of  the  situation  reaching  the  people  of 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


37 


V  irginia  and  their  governor.  There  was  no  doubt 
but  that  the  scalps  of  the  commissioner  and  the  old 
explorer  would  have  been  well  paid  for  by  some¬ 
body.  What  they  most  feared  was  an  ambuscade, 
and  it  might  be  that  that  they  were  even  now  walk¬ 
ing  into  one.  It  was  not  long  before  their  guide 
pretended  to  hear  two  whoops  from  the  northward, 
and  again  spoke  of  his  cabin.  It  was  a  mysterious 
cabin,  and  they  went  on  for  two  miles  more  without 
coming  in  sight  of  it.  Then  Washington  declared 
that  he  should  camp  by  the  next  water  they  should 
reach.  The  guide  said  nothing,  but  kept  stolidly 
on,  until  he  led  them  out  of  the  woods  into  a  sort 
of  natural  meadow.  There  was  more  light  upon  the 
open  snow-field  than  under  the  trees.  There  was 
light  enough  to  shoot  by,  but  not  with  accuracy. 
There  had  been  a  plot  of  some  sort,  and  it  had  failed, 
and  the  quick-eyed  savage  knew  very  well  that  he 
was  suspected,  and  would  be  called  to  account  for 
his  falsehoods.  Fear  drove  him  to  rashness,  and 
he  suddenly  turned,  levelled  his  gun  and  fired,  and 
ran.  Washington  and  Gist  set  out  in  pursuit,  find¬ 
ing  that  neither  was  hurt,  and  caught  the  Indian  be¬ 
hind  a  large  white  oak.  He  was  reloading  his  gun 
when  they  seized  him,  and  Gist  was  for  killing  him 
at  once.  Washington  forbade  it,  and  coolly  per¬ 
mitted  the  red  man  to  load  his  gun  before  he  took 
it  away  from  him.  That  one  act  of  perfect  steadi¬ 
ness  offers  a  striking  index  to  his  entire  character. 

The  three  men  marched  on  again  together,  but  as 
soon  as  they  came  to  a  stream  of  water  the  treacher¬ 
ous  guide  was  ordered  to  build  a  fire,  and  a  camp 


38 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


was  made  as  if  for  the  night.  It  was  only  for  a  rest 
and  for  a  consultation  as  to  how  the  white  men  could 
best  get  rid  of  the  Indian.  Gist  was  still  in  favor  of 
killing  him,  but  advised  Washington  that  the  only 
alternative  was  to  make  believe  cheat  both  him  and 
themselves,  and  to  send  him  away  politely.  The 
guide  was,  therefore,  told  that  he  was  supposed  to 
have  lost  his  way,  and  to  have  fired  his  gun  as  a  sig¬ 
nal.  He  was  given  a  cake  of  bread,  and  bidden  to 
go  and  find  his  cabin,  and  come  back  in  the  morning 
with  some  meat.  Nobody  was  really  deceived,  and 
the  savage  was  glad  to  get  away  alive.  As  soon  as 
he  was  gone,  Gist  following  him  a  little  distance  to 
prevent  his  lurking  near  to  watch  them,  the  two 
white  men  pushed  on  through  the  woods.  At  the 
end  of  a  mile  or  so  they  lighted  another  fire  to  fix 
their  compass,  and  set  their  course  by  it.  They 
were  men  of  iron,  for  after  all  that  fatigue  and  ex¬ 
posure,  they  left  their  fire  burning,  and  travelled  all 
night.  Whether  pursued  or  not,  they  marched  on 
through  the  whole  of  the  following  day,  and  camped 
at  nightfall  upon  the  bank  of  the  Alleghany  River, 
two  miles  above  Shannopins  Town.  They  needed 
the  rest  they  obtained  that  night,  but  at  daybreak 
they  were  up  and  at  work  again.  Their  first  neces¬ 
sity  was  to  construct  a  raft.  The  river  was  frozen 
for  some  distance  out  from  either  bank,  but  the 
main  channel  was  open  and  full  of  drifting  ice.  All 
day  they  toiled,  having  but  one  hatchet  to  work 
with  ;  but  it  was  dark  again  before  they  were  able  to 
launch  their  raft.  It  was  an  all  but  desperate  un¬ 
dertaking,  and  before  they  were  half  way  over  they 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


39 


were  ice-jammed  and  wrecked.  Washington  himself 
narrowly  escaped  drowning,  and  he  and  Gist  spent 
the  remainder  of  the  night  upon  an  island  in  the 
middle  of  the  river,  where  the  intense  cold  froze  the 
hands  and  feet  of  Gist.  In  the  morning  the  ice 
cakes  were  packed  and  frozen  so  that  they  could 
reach  the  shore,  and  before  another  night  they  were 
sheltered  in  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Frazier,  an  Indian 
trader.  Here  they  learned  that  the  Ottawas,  friendly 
to  the  French,  had  already  massacred  a  whole  fam¬ 
ily  of  white  settlers  on  the  bank  of  the  Great 
Kanawha  River. 

There  was  yet  some  delay  in  obtaining  horses  to 
proceed  with,  and  Washington  used  the  time  in 
getting  upon  good  terms  with  Indians  in  that 
vicinity.  By  the  1st  of  January  he  was  ready  to 
move,  and  on  the  16th  he  delivered  to  Governor 
Dinwiddie,  at  the  seat  of  Government,  the  letter  of 
the  French  commander,  and  made  him  a  full  report 
of  the  results  of  his  extraordinary  scouting  expedi¬ 
tion. 


CHAPTER  V. 


A  Daring  Deed  Appreciated. — Preparing  for  War . — 
A  Very  Young  Commander . — A  Scarcity  of  Fight¬ 
ing  Men. — A  Push  into  the  Indian  Country. —  The 
Surrender  of  Fort  Necessity. — Colonists  Considered 
Inferiors  of  Englishmen. 

Major  Washington’s  report  was  at  once  made 
public,  and  from  that  hour  the  eyes  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  were  upon  him  as  a  man  from  whom  great 
things  were  to  be  expected.  It  was  well  understood 
that  the  qualities  of  body  and  mind  required  for 
such  a  performance  were  rare  indeed.  The  plain 
facts  of  the  matter,  even  when  given  in  brief  out¬ 
line,  surpassed  romance.  At  the  same  time,  the 
public  service  rendered  was  enormous,  with  con¬ 
sequences  that  were  to  continue  forever.  The  de¬ 
signs  of  the  French  were  unmasked,  the  fears  as 
well  as  the  patriotism  of  the  colonists  were  aroused, 
and  the  great  struggle  for  the  future  ownership  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley  was  begun.  The  fame  of 
Major  George  Washington  was  sure  to^spread  into 
every  corner  of  every  colony,  and  his  name  would 
even  be  mentioned  in  England  itself.  A  time  was 
surely  coming  when  the  fact  of  this  early  fame 
would  be  of  national  importance.  It  would  be 
needful  that  every  soldier,  on  hearing  that  he  was 
named  Commander-in-chief,  should  be  able  to  say 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


41 


to  himself,  confidently  :  “  Washington  ?  Oh,  yes  ; 
everybody  knows  who  he  is.  I’ve  heard  about  him 
for  years  and  years.  He’s  the  right  man.” 

The  letter  carried  by  Washington  from  the  Cheva¬ 
lier  de  St.  Pierre  to  Governor  Dinwiddie  plainly  de¬ 
clared  that  officer’s  purpose  to  proceed  with  the  oc¬ 
cupation  of  the  Ohio  country,  although  the  chevalier 
politely  assured  the  governor  that  he  should  refer 
the  matter  to  the  Marquis  Duquesne,  commanding 
in  Canada. 

Washington’s  journal  was  printed  and  widely  dis¬ 
tributed,  and  all  men  knew  that  there  would  be  fight¬ 
ing  in  the  spring.  In  the  mean  time,  Governor  Din¬ 
widdie  ordered  Captain  Trent  to  raise  a  company  of 
one  hundred  men  and  go  and  finish  the  fort  begun 
by  the  Ohio  Company  at  the  fork  of  the  Ohio. 
Washington  was  ordered  to  raise  another  company, 
as  well  as  to  forward  supplies  to  Trent.  When  both 
companies  were  full,  Washington  was  to  take  com¬ 
mand  of  them  ;  and  he  must  have  felt  that  it  was 
a  forlorn  beginning  of  an  army  to  capture  the  Ohio 
country,  knowing  as  he  did  with  what  a  force  they 
were  to  contend. 

The  governor  wrote  to  the  governors  of  the  other 
colonies,  urging  them  to  make  common  cause  with 
Virginia  against  the  common  enemy,  but  he  only 
succeeded  in  discovering  how  very  loose,  disjointed, 
and  dissevered  were  the  several  colonies.  Some  had 
no  money  to  spend  in  war  ;  some  desired  directions 
from  England  before  acting  ;  some  doubted  if,  after 
all,  the  French  were  not  in  the  right  about  it. 
Nearly  all  of  them  probably  felt  that  Virginia  s  in- 


42 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


terest  in  the  Ohio  lands  was  greater  than  that  of 
anybody  else  except  the  French  and  Indians.  Nar¬ 
row  and  selfish  and  short-sighted  as  it  all  seems 
nowadays,  it  was  not  so  then.  The  work  of  weld¬ 
ing  a  nation  out  of  the  colonies  was  opposed,  from 
the  beginning,  by  many  of  the  best  men  in  them. 
Seven  years  of  the  Revolutionary  War  at  last  left 
the  bond  between  them  so  loose  that  it  required 
several  years  more  to  make  them  consent  to  become 
one  people. 

There  was  to  be  no  immediate  help  from  the 
other  colonies,  but  Governor  Dinwiddie  sent  agents 
to  stir  up  the  Catawbas  and  Cherokees  against  the 
Ottawas  and  Chippewas,  who  were  allies  of  the 
French.  He  was  now  to  have  another  experience 
that  had  in  it  a  sort  of  prophecy  of  the  hot  political 
strife  that  was  soon  to  come.  He  called  together 
the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses,  or  legislature,  to 
take  measures  “  for  the  public  security,”  and  that 
meant  to  vote  sums  of  money  for  him  to  spend  in 
fighting  for  the  possession  of  the  Ohio  lands.  He 
might  almost  as  well  have  called  together  the  gov¬ 
ernors  of  the  other  colonies.  Some  of  the  burgesses 
felt  very  economical  ;  others  demurred  at  what 
sounded  very  much  like  a  declaration  of  war  against 
France,  and  raising  money  for  it.  Some  aroused  the 
wrath  of  the  governor  by  roundly  doubting  if  the 
English  king  had  any  rights  beyond  the  Alleghanies, 
and  at  last  they  all  angered  him  still  more  by  doubt¬ 
ing  his  own  capacity  and  prudence.  They  voted 
him  only  ten  thousand  pounds,  and  then  appointed 
a  committee  to  help  him  spend  it.  He  had  high 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


43 


ideas  of  the  enormous  dignity  of  representing  the 
royal  power  as  governor,  and  he  could  not  imagine 
how  useful  were  the  empty  scoldings  he  now  gave 
the  free  farmers  and  gentlemen  of  Virginia.  He 
justly  complained  that  the  House  of  Burgesses  was 
deeply  tinctured  with  a  “  republican  way  of  think¬ 
ing,’’  and  wisely  expressed  his  fear  that  it  “  would 
render  them  more  and  more  difficult  to  be  brought 
to  order.”  It  turned  out,  in  a  few  years,  exactly 
so. 

Having  a  little  money  to  pay  expenses,  it  was 
decided  to  raise  three  hundred  men  instead  of  two 
hundred.  The  command  of  the  battalion  was  of¬ 
fered  to  Washington.  He  was  undeniably,  there¬ 
fore,  the  foremost  military  man  of  Virginia  at  twenty- 
two  years  of  age.  He  deemed  himself  too  young, 
however,  and  refused  the  chief  responsibility,  con¬ 
senting  to  do  the  actual  commanding  as  lieutenant- 
colonel  under  Colonel  Joshua  Fry.  The  work  of  re¬ 
cruiting  the  battalion  went  on  somewhat  slowly, 
even  after  Governor  Dinwiddie  offered  as  a  bounty 
to  the  men  and  officers  of  the  expedition  two  hun¬ 
dred  thousand  acres  of  the  very  land  they  were  to 
protect  upon  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  River.  It  was 
not  so  absurd  as  it  seems,  even  considering  the 
shadowy  nature  of  the  King  of  England’s  right  to 
the  land,  for  the  sons  of  poor  men  could  not  easily 
obtain  farms  in  Virginia.  The  great  estates  crowded 
them  out. 

It  was  even  harder  to  obtain  good  officers  than 
good  men.  It  was  well  known  that  the  service  in 
the  woods  must  be  toilsome,  perilous,  and  was  quite 


44 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


likely  to  end  in  disaster,  and  two  of  the  captains  ap¬ 
pointed  refused  their  commissions.  The  third  cap¬ 
tain  had  been  promoted  to  other  duties,  and  now, 
as  lieutenant-colonel,  found  the  work  of  all  three 
upon  his  hands.  He  was  the  very  man  to  do  a  great 
deal  of  work  in  a  short  time,  and  when  the  next 
spring  opened  he  and  his  battalion  were  ready  to 
move  for  the  frontier.  The  raising,  officering, 
equipping,  and  management  of  that  miniature  army, 
under  such  difficulties  as  to  men,  money,  supplies, 
weather,  and  all  the  other  hindrances  that  he  over¬ 
came,  was  wonderfully  like  the  grander  work  he 
afterward  performed  for  the  Continental  Army.  He 
was  getting  ready  all  the  while,  and  he  now  had  a 
number  of  valuable  lessons  right  before  him. 

On  the  2d  of  April,  1754,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Washington  marched  from  Alexandria,  Virginia,  for 
the  fork  of  the  Ohio.  He  had  with  him  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  another  small  detach¬ 
ment  joined  him  on  the  way.  The  remainder  of  the 
battalion,  under  Colonel  Fry,  was  to  follow,  ascend¬ 
ing  the  Potomac  in  boats  as  far  as  possible.  The 
cannon  were  to  come  with  Colonel  Fry,  and  part 
of  the  hard  work  before  Washington’s  men  was  to 
prepare  the  rude  roads  across  the  mountain  country 
for  the  passage  of  artillery.  It  was  not  easy  to  ob¬ 
tain  horses,  but  Washington  pushed  on  through  the 
mountains  with  such  as  he  could  get.  At  the  trad¬ 
ing-post  on  Wills’  Creek  he  expected  to  find  more 
horses  provided  in  advance  by  Captain  Trent. 
That  person  could  safely  have  been  trusted  not  to 
provide.  On  the  way  they  heard  that  he  and  his 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON \ 


45 


men  had  been  captured  by  the  French,  but  the 
rumor  was  false.  When  they  reached  Wills’  Creek, 
the  captain  was  there.  He  had  no  horses  to  offer, 
and  he  knew  nothing  definite  about  his  men.  He 
had  left  them  at  the  fork  of  the  Ohio  at  work  on 
the  fort,  under  command  of  Frazier,  the  Indian 
trader.  Frazier  had  consented  to  be  made  a  lieu¬ 
tenant  of  militia  on  condition  that  he  need  not  stay 
at  the  fort  or  neglect  his  other  business  ;  so  that 
Trent’s  men  were  really  under  command  of  an  ensign. 
Washington  was  compelled  to  halt  and  wait  for  more 
horses  to  come  to  carry  his  supplies.  Before  he 
could  go  forward,  Trent’s  men  came  in,  headed  by 
their  ensign.  All  the  fort  they  had  built  at  the  fork 
of  the  Ohio  was  in  the  hands  of  the  French  already. 
Without  sending  on  any  warning  whatever,  Captain 
Contrecceur  had  swiftly  descended  the  Monongahela 
with  a  thousand  men  and  artillery  in  sixty  boats. 
When  he  appeared  before  the  unfinished  works  and 
demanded  their  surrender,  Frazier  was  absent  at  his 
other  business,  and  that  of  giving  up  the  post  de¬ 
volved  upon  the  ensign.  Fie  did  it  promptly,  and 
was  permitted  to  come  away  in  safety  with  all  his 
men.  With  him  also  came  two  Indian  warriors 
from  the  half-king,  Tanacharisson,  with  a  message  to 
Washington,  and  another  with  a  wampum-belt  for 
Governor  Dinwiddie.  The  chief  declared  his  firm 
faith  toward  the  English,  and  desired  to  know  how 
strong  a  force  Washington  had  with  him,  and  when 
he  intended  coming  on.  This  was  precisely  what  it 
was  not  desirable  to  let  Captain  Contrecoeur  know. 
The  Indian  with  the  belt  was  sent  on  to  see  the 


46 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


governor,  and  the  other  was  sent  back  to  the  half- 
king  with  a  “  speech  ”  from  Washington  to  Tana- 
charisson  and  the  sachems  of  the  other  tribes.  He 
informed  them  that  the  force  with  him  was  the  ad¬ 
vance-guard  of  the  army,  and  that  the  rest  of  it  was 
coming  with  cannon  and  provisions,  and  he  asked 
them  to  come  and  meet  him  on  his  way,  to  hold  a 
council. 

The  position  in  which  Washington  found  himself 
was  one  of  peculiar  difficulty.  War  had  plainly  been 
begun  by  the  French  in  the  capture  of  the  fort,  and 
there  was  no  doubt  as  to  their  further  purposes. 
They  were  in  vastly  superior  force,  even  without 
their  Indian  allies,  and  Washington  and  his  handful 
of  raw  recruits  were  within  reach  of  them.  More 
French  were  known  to  be  coming  up  from  the  lower 
Ohio,  and  six  hundred  Ottawa  and  Chippewa  war¬ 
riors  were  on  their  way  to  join  Captain  Contrecoeur. 
The  promptness  and  good  generalship  of  the  French 
merited  the  success  they  had  gained,  and  Washing¬ 
ton  well  knew  how  surely  the  red  men  would  side 
with  the  winning  party.  Under  the  circumstances, 
no  blame  whatever  could  attach  to  them  for  so  doing. 

Surrounded  by  many  perplexities,  one  of  which 
was  the  insubordinate  conduct  of  some  of  the  volun¬ 
teers  under  Captain  Trent,  Washington  called  a 
council  of  war.  On  due  deliberation  it  was  decided 
to  proceed  to  a  storehouse  belonging  to  the  Ohio 
Company,  at  the  mouth  of  Redstone  Creek,  con¬ 
struct  defensive  works,  and  wait  for  re-enforcements. 
Washington  sent  on  sixty  men  at  once  to  make  a 
road  and  begin  the  fortifications,  and  wrote  to  Gov- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


47 


ernor  Dinwiddie  for  artillery.  He  also  wrote  letters 
to  the  governors  of  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  set¬ 
ting  forth  the  situation,  and  asking  for  help.  A  bill 
appropriating  money  for  troops  to  re-enforce  him 
came  very  near  to  passing  the  Pennsylvania  Legis¬ 
lature,  but  at  the  last  moment  there  was  a  squabble 
as  to  how  and  by  whom  the  money  should  be  spent, 
and  the  bill  died.  No  troops  came  from  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  and  the  young  commander  was  again  supplied 
with  a  small  pattern  of  some  of  his  greater  experi¬ 
ences  to  come.  He  marched  soon  for  Redstone 
Creek,  sending  Trent's  disorderly  volunteers  to  their 
homes  as  useless,  and  reporting  their  commander  to 
Governor  Dinwiddie  as  an  inefficient  coward. 

The  sixty  men  sent  forward  to  open  the  road  for 
Colonel  Fry’s  artillery,  should  it  ever  come,  found 
it  hard  work,  and  had  made  small  progress  before 
Washington  and  the  main  body  caught  up  with 
them.  It  was  more  than  enough  for  all  hands  when 
they  got  at  it.  Washington  left  Wills’  Creek  on  the 
29th  of  April,  and  on  the  9th  of  May  only  twenty 
miles  of  road  had  been  completed.  Bad  news  came 
all  the  while  from  the  forks  of  the  Ohio.  The 
French  were  building  a  fort  on  the  very  spot  origi¬ 
nally  pointed  out  by  Washington  himself.  All  the 
English  traders  were  retreating  to  the  settlements, 
and  the  red  men  were  receiving  lavish  presents  to 
induce  them  to  abandon  their  former  alliance  with 
the  English.  The  half-king,  Tanacharisson,  was  yet 
faithful,  and  sent  word  that  he  was  on  his  way  to 
meet  Washington  with  fifty  warriors. 

The  military  road  was  pushed  on  across  the 


43 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


swamps  and  through  the  forests  and  over  the  moun¬ 
tain-sides  until  it  reached  the  Youghiogheny  River. 
Here  a  bridge  had  to  be  constructed,  and  while  the 
work  was  going  on  Washington  corresponded  with 
Governor  Dinwiddie.  One  of  the  governor’s  diffi¬ 
culties  from  the  beginning  had  been  lack  of  money, 
and  it  was  not  his  fault  that  officers  of  the  colonial’ 
troops  were  allowed  less  pay  than  those  of  corre¬ 
sponding  rank  in  the  regular  English  army.  For 
himself,  Washington  was  indifferent  to  the  money 
question,  and  said  so  to  the  governor  in  writing. 
He  was  quite  ready  to  serve  freely  for  no  pay  at  all. 
He  was  severely  nettled,  however,  by  the  plainly- 
implied  personal  inferiority,  and  he  strongly  argued 
the  injustice  and  impolicy  of  such  an  implication. 
At  the  same  time  he  said  that  he  had  no  idea  of  re¬ 
signing  for  such  a  cause,  and  meant  to  be  the  last 
man  to  retreat  from  the  Ohio  River.  He  turned 
from  the  discussion  of  a  question  of  military  etiquette 
and  pay  to  make  personal  explorations  of  the  wilder¬ 
ness  beyond  him,  accompanied  by  rapacious  and  un¬ 
trustworthy  Indian  guides.  He  discovered  by  these 
investigations  how  tremendous  were  the  engineering 
difficulties  yet  to  be  overcome  in  making  that  road 
to  Redstone  Creek. 

The  half-king  continued  faithful,  and  from  time 
to  time  sent  word  of  the  condition  and  understood 
designs  of  the  French  forces.  He  and  his  braves 
did  very  excellent  service  as  scouts  and  spies,  but 
he  did  not  then  or  afterward  conceal  his  contempt 
for  the  white  man’s  methods  of  warfare.  On  the 
25th  of  May  Washington  and  his  men  were  en- 


GE  OR  GE  IV A  SUING  7 'ON. 


49 


camped  at  a  place  called  Great  Meadows,  and  word 
was  brought  in  by  Gist  that  a  noted  French  scout, 
named  La  Force,  was  prowling  in  the  neighborhood. 
Washington  went  to  look  for  him  with  about  forty 
men  and  some  Indian  warriors  under  Tanacharisson. 
The  French  were  nominally  commanded  by  a  young 
officer  named  Jumonville,  and  opened  fire  as  soon  as 
the  English  came  in  sight.  A  sharp  skirmish  fol¬ 
lowed,  in  which  Jumonville  and  many  of  his  men 
were  killed  or  wounded,  twenty-one  were  captured, 
and  only  one,  it  was  said,  escaped.  Washington 
lost  but  one  man  killed  and  three  wounded,  but  he 
was  himself  in  the  hottest  of  the  fight,  and  escaped 
narrowly.  La  Force,  who  was  captured,  claimed 
that  the  expedition  under  Jumonville  had  not  in¬ 
tended  hostilities,  and  that  the  English  began  the 
skirmish.  The  higher  French  army  authorities  de¬ 
clared  that  Jumonville  and  his  men  had  been  mur¬ 
dered.  Washington  knew  better,  and  sent  his  pris¬ 
oners  to  Virginia,  after  having  with  difficulty  saved 
them  from  the  knives  and  tomahawks  of  Tanachar¬ 
isson  and  his  warriors.  That  chieftain  roundly  de¬ 
clared  that  his  white  brothers  were  soft-hearted  fools 
in  sparing  the  lives  of  so  many  enemies.  He  had 
never  been  guilty  of  such  an  error  in  all  his  war  ex¬ 
perience. 

Washington  began  to  fortify  himself  at  Great 
Meadows,  for  he  could  have  no  doubt  but  that  the 
French  would  come  to  avenge  the  results  of  that 
skirmish.  He  urged  Colonel  Fry,  who  had  now 
reached  the  post  at  Wills’  Creek,  to  send  him  re-en¬ 
forcements,  and  somewhat  too  emphatically  wrote 


50  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

and  spoke  of  his  own  undaunted  determination.  In 
a  letter  to  one  of  his  brothers,  for  instance,  after 
telling  the  story  of  the  skirmish,  he  said  :  “I  heard 
the  bullets  whistle,  and,  believe  me,  there  is  some¬ 
thing  charming  in  the  sound.' ' 

Horace  Walpole  relates  that  this  quotation  wan¬ 
dered  as  far  as  England,  and  was  repeated  to  King 
George  II.  His  Majesty  quietly  remarked  :  “  He 
would  not  say  so  if  he  had  been  used® to  hear  many.  ** 
Years  afterward  Washington  was  asked  if  he  ever 
really  wrote  it,  and  responded  :  “  If  I  said  so,  it 
was  when  I  was  young.  ” 

He  and  the  king  were  quite  agreed,  therefore,  as 
to  experience,  but  there  was  no  bragging  what¬ 
ever  in  the  remark.  He  had  a  superabundance  of 
the  hot  courage  that  could  boil  over  in  a  fight,  as 
well  as  of  the  hard,  steady  determination  which  had 
carried  him  unflinchingly  through  the  wintry  wilder¬ 
ness  with  Governor  Dinwiddie's  letter. 

Things  grew  darker  at  the  camp  in  the  Great 
Meadows.  There  was  gross  mismanagement  in 
the  commissariat,  and  supplies  of  provisions  needed 
failed  to  come.  There  was  so  plain  a  prospect  of 
famine  that  when  the  rude  fortification — a  trench 
around  a  square  of  palisades — was  completed,  Wash¬ 
ington  named  it  Fort  Necessity.  He  was  by  no  means 
lacking  in  a  sense  of  grim  humor,  as  that  sarcasm 
testifies.  Colonel  Fry  fell  sick  shortly  after  reach¬ 
ing  Wills'  Creek,  and  now  his  death  left  Washington 
in  nominal  as  well  as  in  actual  command  of  all  the 
meagre  forces.  Indian  allies,  with  their  families, 
were  coming  in  by  the  dozen,  to  help  eat  up  the  re- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


5i 


main  mg  provisions.  It  was  known  that  the  French 
force  was  increasing,  and  all  the  re-enforcements 
promised  to  the  young  commander  dwindled  to  a 
single  independent  company  of  one  hundred  men 
from  South  Carolina  under  a  Captain  Mackay.  This 
gentleman  held  a  commission  directly  from  the  King, 
and  therefore  considered  himself  an  officer  of  the 
regular  army.  For  that  reason  he  could  not  lower 
his  dignity  by  receiving  orders  from  a  person  like 
George  Washington,  who  only  held  a  merely 
“  colonial  ”  appointment.  He  and  his  dignity 
added  materially  to  the  perplexities  of  the  situation. 
Some  small  cannon  and  munitions  of  war  came  at 
last,  and  moderate  supplies,  with  letters  and  gifts, 
medals  and  wampum-belts,  from  Governor  Dinwiddie 
for  the  allied  chiefs.  It  was  possible,  therefore,  to 
hold  a  grand  council  with  them,  and  make  the  pres¬ 
ents  in  proper  style.  Washington  duly  presided  at 
the  council,  for  he  was  by  this  time  very  much  at 
home  in  Indian  diplomacy.  He  had  evidently  made 
a  lasting  personal  impression  upon  his  red  acquaint¬ 
ances.  One  duty  which  he  might  otherwise  have 
neglected  was  urged  upon  him  in  a  letter  from  his 
friend,  William  Fairfax,  and  he  determined  to  have 
public  religious  services  in  his  camp.  There  was  no 
chaplain  or  other  minister  at  Fort  Necessity,  but  its 
commander  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  He  con¬ 
ducted  the  religious  services  himself,  with  his  sol¬ 
diers,  the  Indian  warriors  and  squaws,  the  hunters, 
traders,  and  backwoodsmen  for  his  congregation.  In 
this,  as  in  all  the  other  duties  that  he  was  so  brave¬ 
ly  doing,  the  clearly-cut,  unmistakable  outlines  of 


52 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


his  genuinely  heroic  nature  were  beginning  to  stand 
out,  so  that  other  men  were  compelled  to  see  them. 
He  led  his  men  in  prayer  precisely  as  he  led  them  in 
action,  with  the  same  simple  devotion  to  duty  which 
made  him  take  an  axe  and  chop  with  them,  toiling 
as  a  private  soldier  at  road  and  bridge  building,  to 
set  them  an  example. 

French  deserters  came  in  now  and  then,  and  from 
them  it  was  learned  that  the  new  fort  at  the  fork  of 
the  Ohio  had  been  nearly  completed  and  named 
Fort  Duquesne,  after  the  French  commanding-gen¬ 
eral.  On  the  nth  of  June  another  attempt  was 
made  to  march  to  Redstone  Creek,  but  on  the  way 
the  news  arrived  that  the  French  were  at  last  ad¬ 
vancing  in  force.  A  council  of  war  was  held,  and  it 
was  decided  to  return  to  Fort  Necessity  rather  than 
to  be  destroyed  where  they  were.  The  retreat  was 
made  as  rapidly  as  possible,  Captain  Mackay  and  his 
independent  South  Carolinians  refusing  all  hard 
work.  They  so  added  to  the  disgust  of  the  over¬ 
wearied  Virginia  troops  that,  when  Fort  Necessity 
was  reached,  these  refused  to  carry  baggage  and  haul 
cannon  any  farther.  Washington  was  therefore 
compelled  to  halt  and  send  for  supplies  and  re-en¬ 
forcements,  but  the  men  had  better  have  marched 
right  on  to  Wills’  Creek,  as  he  desired.  The  French 
force  consisted  of  five  hundred  men,  under  Cap¬ 
tain  de  Villiers,  a  brother-in-law  of  Jumonville, 
killed  in  the  recent  skirmish,  and  several  hundred 
Indians.  De  Villiers  reached  the  vicinity  of  Fort 
Necessity  at  dawn  of  the  day  following  Washing¬ 
ton’s  arrival,  and  a  deserter  told  him  all  he  needed 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


53 


to  know  of  its  forlorn  condition.  It  was  every  way 
forlorn  enough,  Mackay  and  his  men  sitting  haugh¬ 
tily  still  while  Washingon  hewed  logs  with  his  own 
hands  and  toiled  with  his  men  at  the  construction 
of  breastworks. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  3d  of  July  the  French 
and  their  Indians  began  to  skirmish  their  way  through 
the  woods  toward  the  fort,  and  it  was  easy  to  see 
that  they  were  numerous  and  were  well  handled. 
Washington’s  Indians  had  already  left  him,  headed 
by  Tanacharisson,  that  clear-headed  chieftain  plainly 
foreseeing  and  foretelling  disaster,  and  declaring 
again  his  disgust  over  white  men’s  ways  in  time  of 
war.  Washington  at  first  drew  up  his  men  outside 
of  the  fort,  but  retreated  within  it  as  the  skirmish¬ 
ing  went  on.  The  rain  fell  in  torrents,  to  add  to 
the  general  misery,  and  wet  the  cartridges.  There 
was  much  firing,  but  both  sides  were  well  under 
cover.  The  garrison  consisted  of  three  hundred  and 
five  men,  all  told,  and  of  these  twelve  were  killed 
and  forty-three  wounded.  The  loss  of  the  French 
and  Indians  was  unknown,  but  one  sixth  of  Wash¬ 
ington’s  small  force  was  gone,  and  the  odds  against 
him,  famine  included,  were  surely  increasing.  At 
eight  o’clock  in  the  evening  the  French  commander 
asked  for  a  parley,  and  after  a  bungling  discussion, 
with  old  Jacob  Van  Braam  for  interpreter,  terms  of 
surrender  were  agreed  upon.  Washington  should 
have  understood  French,  for  he  was  afterward  sorely 
annoyed  by  precise  translations  of  the  terms  he 
signed.  He  never  would  have  declared  the  death 
of  Jumonville  an  “assassination,”  for  instance; 


54 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


and  other  passages  bore  equal  testimony  to  the  fact 
that  Van  Braam’s  knowledge  of  French  was  defec¬ 
tive.  The  worn-out  and  dispirited  Virginians  and 
South  Carolinians  marched  for  Wills’  Creek  the  next 
day,  and  reached  it  at  last  in  safety  ;  but  Washing¬ 
ton’s  first  campaign  had  ended  in  disaster.  It  was 
no  fault  of  his,  and  in  like  manner  and  for  similar 
reasons  were  some  of  his  later  campaigns  to  end  in 
seeming  ruin.  The  best  thing  possible  for  his  mili¬ 
tary  education  had  come  to  him.  FT  is  hot  temper 
and  military  ardor  had  been  severely  trained  in  the 
school  of  adversity,  and  all  other  men  well  under¬ 
stood  that  he  had  done  all  that  was  possible  under 
the  circumstances.  He  came  home  from  his  defeat 
with  added  fame  and  an  increase  of  public  confi¬ 
dence. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


A  Boy -Colonel . — Snubs  for  Colonial  Militia  Officers. 

— A  Visit  to  Home  and  Mother. — English  and 

French  Diplomacies. — Braddock' s  Campaign.  — A 

Sudden  and  Terrible  Disaster. 

Washington  took  a  brief  rest  and  rejoined  his 
regiment  at  Alexandria,  in  August,  with  the  rank 
of  colonel,  and  with  instructions  from  Governor  Din- 
widdie  to  recruit  it  to  its  full  number  of  three  hun¬ 
dred  men.  He  was  then  to  join  Colonel  Innes,  who 
was  now  at  Wills’  Creek  with  Captain  Mackay’s 
South  Carolina  men  and  two  companies  from  New 
York.  That  post  was  now  fortified,  and  was  called 
Fort  Cumberland,  after  the  British  Duke  of  Cum¬ 
berland.  A  little  later  a  rash  plan  was  devised  for 
an  attempt  to  surprise  Fort  Duquesne,  but  by 
Washington’s  advice  it  was  abandoned.  There  was 
to  be  no  more  war  that  year,  in  spite  of  the  excited 
condition  of  the  public  mind.  The  Virginia  House 
of  Burgesses  spent  the  time  until  October  in  a 
steady  resistance  of  the  governor’s  efforts  to  bring 
them  into  a  state  of  passive  obedience.  They  then 
granted  him  twenty  thousand  pounds  for  military 
purposes.  With  this  sum  and  ten  thousand  pounds 
more  sent  out,  with  a  supply  of  arms,  from  Eng¬ 
land,  he  proposed  to  accomplish  great  things.  He 
planned  a  force  of  ten  companies,  but  provided  that 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


56 

no  officer  among  them  should  hold  a  rank  above 
that  of  captain.  Any  higher  officers  were  to  be  pro¬ 
vided  from  the  British  army,  and  the  dangerous 
uppishness  of  the  “provincials”  was  to  be  kept 
down. 

This  remarkable  edict  called  for  the  resignation 
of  “  Colonel  ”  George  Washington,  and  he  sent  it 
in  at  once.  He  had,  he  said,  received  a  legislative 
vote  of  thanks  as  colonel,  and  he  refused  to  serve  as 
captain.  Even  when  Governor  Sharpe,  of  Maryland, 
appointed  by  King  George  II.  to  the  command  of 
all  the  troops  raised  for  existing  hostilities,  tried  to 
induce  him  to  continue  in  the  service,  upon  some 
sort  of  compromise  that  should  enable  him  to  retain 
his  title  without  the  actual  rank,  he  refused.  It 
would  have  been  a  fraud,  in  the  first  place,  and  a 
surrender  of  colonial  rights  to  British  arrogance,  in 
the  second.  He  was  in  a  rapid  process  of  education 
as  a  rebel  against  royal  authority,  and  was  probably 
not  at  all  aware  of  it.  Washington  had  other  causes 
of  disagreement  with  Governor  Dinwiddie,  and  his 
letters  show  that  he  was  able  to  present  his  side  of 
all  the  questions  involved  with  a  great  deal  of  force, 
and  even  with  some  eloquence.  He  surely  did  so 
with  unstinted  freedom.  On  resigning  his  commis¬ 
sion,  Washington  proceeded  at  once  to  the  home¬ 
stead  on  the  bank  of  the  Rappahannock  to  visit  his 
mother,  sister,  and  brothers.  They  had  seen  little 
enough  of  him  for  several  years,  but  he  had  been 
all  the  while  his  mother’s  adviser  in  the  management 
of  the  estate.  He  was  the  head  of  the  family,  and 
every  member  of  it,  servants  and  all,  was  justly  proud 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


57 


to  have  such  a  claim  upon  the  most  famous  young 
man  in  the  American  colonies.  He  finished  his  visit 
and  went  to  Mount  Vernon,  proposing  to  occupy 
himself  in  the  development  of  that  estate.  He  was 
fond  of  agriculture,  and  continued  to  be  so  to  the 
end  of  his  days  ;  but  he  was  not  to  be  given  up  to 
such  pursuits  at  the  present  time.  His  own  work, 
ending  at  Fort  Necessity,  had  aroused  the  British 
Government  concerning  French  designs  in  America. 
A  mutual  exchange  of  diplomatic  insincerities  went 
on  between  the  two  powers,  while  the  French  king 
sent  on  additional  shiploads  of  men  and  munitions  of 
war  to  strengthen  his  hold  upon  the  heart  of  North 
America.  He  was  striving  for  a  vast  empire,  and 
he  acted  with  a  liberality  and  promptness  that  should 
have  shamed  his  adversary.  The  British  acted  at 
last.  They  did  not  declare  war,  and  pretended  not 
to  make  any.  They  actually  made  it  under  the 
sham  covering  of  what  they  called  “  defensive  meas¬ 
ures.  ”  One  of  these  was  to  drive  some  French  in¬ 
truders  from  Nova  Scotia  by  force  of  arms.  The 
next  was  a  plan  to  capture  the  fort  that  the  French 
had  built  at  Crown  Point,  on  Lake  Champlain. 
Another  defensive  measure  devised  was  to  be  the 
capture  of  the  French  fort  at  Niagara,  between 
Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario.  The  most  important  and 
least  peaceful  measure  of  all  was  to  be  the  ejection 
of  the  French  from  the  Ohio  River  country. 

The  British  commander-in-chief,  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland,  selected  Major-General  Edward  Brad- 
dock  as  the  commanding-general  of  all  the  forces  to 
be  sent  to  the  colonies  or  collected  there.  For  all 


5S 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


that  was  known  in  England,  the  selection  was  a 
good  one.  Braddock  was  a  brave  and  experienced 
veteran,  a  thorough  disciplinarian.  If  a  war  could 
have  been  planned  for  him,  to  be  fought  upon  a 
checker-board,  he  was  doubtless  a  good  enough  gen¬ 
eral.  If,  however,  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  sev¬ 
eral  rivers,  and  a  trackless  forest  were  to  be  substi¬ 
tuted  for  the  checker-board,  the  Duke  of  Cumberland 
had  sent  the  wrong  man. 

General  Braddock  determined  to  give  his  imme¬ 
diate  personal  attention  to  the  Ohio  River  cam¬ 
paign.  He  landed  at  Hampton,  Virginia,  on  the 
20th  of  February,  1755.  He  brought  with  him  a 
train  of  artillery  and  two  regular  regiments  of  five 
hundred  men  each,  and  these  were  to  be  raised  to 
quotas  of  seven  hundred  by  enlistments  in  the 
colony.  The  ships  with  the  troops  on  board  sailed 
up  the  Potomac  to  disembark  them  at  Alexandria. 
All  the  provincial  levies  were  ordered  to  report  at 
the  same  place.  Much  work  had  already  been  done, 
in  many  ways,  to  prepare  beforehand  for  a  rapid  and 
successful  campaign.  Horses,  wagons,  supplies,  had 
been  provided  for,  and  efforts  had  been  made  to 
obtain  the  assistance  of  the  Cherokees  and  Cataw- 
bas  ;  but  the  warriors  promised  by  those  tribes  did 
not  come. 

Mount  Vernon  is  but  a  few  miles  from  Alexandria, 
and  it  was  not  easy  for  Washington  to  go  on  with 
his  farming  so  near  a  camp.  The  military  spirit  was 
as  hot  in  him  as  ever,  and  led  him  to  mount  his 
horse  now  and  then  and  ride  in  for  a  look  at  Brad- 
dock’s  army.  It  was  a  new  study  of  war  to  him. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


59 


If  he  had  had  the  half  of  such  an  equipment  instead 
of  his  half-starved,  half-mutinous  recruits,  he  would 
not  have  been  compelled  to  surrender  Fort  Neces¬ 
sity  ;  and  he  did  not  dream  that  it  was  one  day  to 
become  his  business  to  face  and  beat  just  such  brill¬ 
iantly-equipped  regulars  with  very  much  such  half- 
starved,  half-mutinous  recruits  as  he  had  marched 
out  of  the  stockade  on  the  Great  Meadows.  He 
had  no  command,  and  had  no  hope  of  any  after  his 
very  plain  letters  to  Governor  Dinwiddie  ;  but  it  was 
reported  to  General  Braddock  that  Colonel  Wash¬ 
ington  had  expressed  a  willingness  to  serve  upon 
his  staff  as  a  volunteer,  without  pay.  The  general 
had  been  well  informed  of  Washington’s  merits, 
capacity,  and  experience  in  frontier  warfare,  and  had 
quite  good  sense  enough  to  see  that  he  needed  such 
a  man.  A  letter  was  therefore  written,  by  General 
Braddock’s  order,  by  Captain  Robert  Orme,  one  of 
his  aides-de-camp,  inviting  the  Virginia  colonel  to  ac¬ 
cept  a  staff-appointment.  The  letter  was  couched  in 
warmly  flattering  terms,  and  the  offer  was  promptly 
accepted  by  Washington,  in  spite  of  his  mother’s 
earnest  opposition.  She  saw  no  reason  why  he  should 
again  expose  himself  to  French  and  Indian  marks¬ 
men  ;  but  his  soldier  blood  was  up,  and  her  motherly 
objections  were  for  once  of  no  avail.  For  him  it 
was  a  matter  of  duty,  and  to  this  was  doubtless 
added  a  feeling  of  soreness  over  his  defeat  and  sur¬ 
render.  He  had  really  gained  fame  in  that  defeat, 
and  now  he  was  about  to  win  yet  higher  fame  in 
an  even  more  complete  and  every  way  more  dis¬ 
graceful  disaster. 


6o 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


General  Braddock  and  his  aides-de-camp  received 
the  new  member  of  the  staff  cordially,  and  there  was 
a  side  of  Washington's  character  which  could  appre¬ 
ciate  the  stateliness,  punctilio,  and  even  the  self- 
willed  obstinacy  of  the  veteran  British  general. 
They  got  on  together  capitally  well  to  the  very  end, 
for  Braddock  was  personally  a  courteous  and  gener¬ 
ous  gentleman.  He  was,  at  the  same  time,  per¬ 
fectly  educated  to  lead  an  army  to  disaster  among 
the  woods. 

A  grand  council  of  war  was  held  on  the  14th  of 
April,  at  which  the  general's  commission  and  in¬ 
structions  were  read.  With  this  and  with  subse¬ 
quent  squabbles  with  colonial  governors  and  assem¬ 
blies  about  supplies  and  men  and  money,  Washing¬ 
ton  had  nothing  to  do.  He  was  learning  all  that 
there  was  to  be  learned  in  Braddock’s  command  as 
to  the  received  routine  methods  of  the  British 
regular  army.  He  was  at  school  again,  and  in  after 
years  he  proved  that  he  had  learned  well  and  rapid¬ 
ly.  All  fresh  levies  of  colonial  troops  were  at  once 
placed  under  severe  drill  and  discipline,  much  to 
their  disgust ;  but  the  British  officers  expected  very 
little  of  them.  It  was  also  a  common  opinion  among 
these  gentlemen,  from  the  general  down  to  the  en¬ 
signs,  that  but  little  was  to  be  feared  from  red  sav¬ 
ages  pitted  against  such  troops  as  had  now  been  im¬ 
ported  from  England.  All  that  could  be  said  by 
Washington,  then  or  afterward,  failed  to  dispel  this 
arrogant  illusion.  It  broke  terribly  enough,  at  last. 

General  Braddock  set  out  from  Alexandria  on  the 
20th  of  April,  and  Washington  followed  a  few  days 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  61 

later.  The  amount  of  baggage,  of  wagons,  of  artil¬ 
lery,  of  all  manner  of  paraphernalia  required  by 
British  routine  for  a  fight  in  the  woods,  was  tremen¬ 
dous.  Trouble  about  supplies  and  further  disputes 
with  the  several  colonial  legislatures  began  at  once. 
One  of  these,  with  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly,  ob¬ 
tained  for  General  Braddock  the  honor  of  a  visit  from 
Benjamin  Franklin,  the  postmaster-general  of  the 
colonies.  Franklin  was  no  soldier,  but  his  keen 
common-sense  suggested  to  him  doubts  as  to  the 
fitness  of  that  army  for  Indian  warfare.  He  was 
politely  snubbed  when  he  made  suggestive  remarks 
to  Braddock,  but  he  duly  recorded  his  forebodings 
of  failure.  Delay  followed  delay,  and  it  was  the 
19th  of  May  before  the  forces  reached  Fort  Cumber¬ 
land.  Continual  drill  went  on  among  the  troops, 
and  the  apparent  shortcomings  of  the  colonial  re¬ 
cruits,  together  with  the  repeated  failures  of  the 
colonial  army  contractors,  kept  the  temper  of  Gen¬ 
eral  Braddock  in  bad  condition.  He  roundly  abused 
everything  colonial,  and  brought  on  sharp  disputes 
between  himself  and  his  patriotic  and  spirited  aide- 
de-camp.  Perhaps  this  may  have  had  something  to 
do  with  the  small  regard  paid  then  or  afterward  to 
Washington’s  suggestions  as  to  the  management  of 
the  campaign. 

On  the  10th  of  June  the  general  moved  from 
camp  with  the  advance,  and  was  six  days  in  reach¬ 
ing  Little  Meadows.  On  the  way  he  had  learned 
something  of  the  difficulty  of  moving  so  much  bag¬ 
gage  over  such  rugged  roads,  and  actually  asked 
Washington’s  opinion  as  to  what  he  had  better  do 


GEORGE  IV A  SUING  TON. 


62 

next.  He  even  followed  the  good  advice  given,  to 
leave  his  encumbrances  behind  him,  with  a  part  of 
his  force,  and  push  forward  with  twelve  hundred 
picked  men  for  a  sudden  and  crushing  blow  at  Fort 
Duquesne.  He  did  well,  so  far,  but  rejected  all 
propositions  for  keeping  a  strong  force  of  scouts, 
backwoodsmen,  and  Indians  ahead  of  his  column 
to  feel  the  wayc 

More  of  the  story  can  better  be  told  from  the 
French  side  of  the  field  of  operations.  Fort  Du¬ 
quesne  was  still  under  the  command  of  Captain  de 
Contrecceur,  but  that  brave  and  capable  officer 
had  not  received  the  re-enforcements  needed  to 
enable  him  to  hold  the  post  against  such  an  army  as 
that  of  General  Braddock.  On  the  morning  of  the 
9th  of  July  his  scouts  brought  him  word  that  the 
British  were  within  six  leagues  of  him,  three  thou¬ 
sand  strong,  with  artillery.  It  was  a  serious  ques¬ 
tion  in  his  mind  whether  it  were  best  for  him  to 
leave  the  fort  at  once  and  retreat  with  all  he  could 
carry  away,  or  to  wait  and  surrender  in  due  form. 
He  had  under  him,  however,  a  fiery  officer,  named 
Captain  de  Beaujeu,  who  entreated  of  him  permis¬ 
sion  to  go  out  with  a  small  force  and  do  what  mis¬ 
chief  he  could  by  laying  a  trap  for  the  enemy’s  ad¬ 
vance.  De  Beaujeu  took  with  him  72  French  regu¬ 
lars,  146  Canadians,  and  637  Indians — 855  in  all  ;  and 
all  but  72  of  them  of  the  kind  of  men  despised  by 
General  Braddock.  They  laid  their  ambuscade  well, 
and  the  British  commander  sent  his  helpless  troops 
right  into  it,  to  be  shot  down  by  hidden  marksmen. 
De  Beaujeu  himself  was  killed,  but  the  entire  loss 


GEORGE  IV A  SHING TON . 


63 


incurred  in  routing  the  British  army  did  not  exceed 
seventy  killed  and  wounded — French,  Canadians, 
and  red  men. 

The  advance  of  the  splendidly  equipped  and  dis¬ 
ciplined  English  troops  was  made  according  to  the 
most  rigid  system  of  that  day,  but  with  the  purely 
wooden  stupidity  of  refusing  to  find  out  what  was 
before  them.  The  trap  laid  by  De  Beaujeu  was  be¬ 
fore  them,  very  much  as  Washington  had  feared. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  somewhat  sharply  rebuffed 
for  the  persistency  with  which  he  uttered  his  pro¬ 
phetic  warnings.  He  had  been  ill  of  fever  for  sev¬ 
eral  days,  and  was  present  only  because  of  his  over¬ 
powering  sense  of  duty  and  his  dread  of  what  might 
come. 

The  glittering  advance  moved  on  through  the 
forest  until  all  at  once  the  bushes  and  rocks  and  trees 
around  them  seemed  to  become  alive  with  unseen 
marksmen.  The  air  rang  with  the  sharp  cracking  of 
rifles  and  the  horrid  yells  of  savage  warriors,  fol¬ 
lowed  by  shrieks  and  groans  as  the  stately  ranks  of 
the  British  regulars  melted  away.  The  main  body 
behind  them,  with  General  Braddock  in  person, 
charged  bravely  on  to  their  support,  but  went  to  its 
destruction.  No  troops  in  Europe  could  long  with¬ 
stand  that  new  and  appalling  method  of  warfare, 
and  the  British  regiments  broke  and  fled.  The 
Virginia  “  rangers,”  under  Washington's  direction, 
covered  the  disorderly  retreat  with  desperate  cour- 
age,  fighting  from  tree  to  tree  in  Indian  fashion. 
It  was  in  vain,  even  now,  for  Washington  to  urge 
Braddock  to  order  his  men  to  follow  that  example. 


64 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


He  insisted  on  forming  them  in  platoons,  to  be  shot 
down.  He  and  his  officers  behaved  with  dauntless 
courage,  but  at  last  he  was  shot  down,  mortally 
hurt,  and  the  battle  was  given  up  as  lost.  Both  of 
his  other  aides  were  wounded,  and  the  entire  respon¬ 
sibility  of  rescuing  the  relics  of  the  force  devolved 
upon  the  young  Virginia  colonel  of  militia.  He  had 
distinguished  himself  by  his  coolness,  courage,  and 
good  judgment,  and  it  was  a  wonder  that  he  escaped 
unhurt.  Two  horses  were  shot  under  him,  and  four 
bullets  passed  through  his  clothing.  He  freely  ex¬ 
posed  himself  everywhere,  and  was  an  attractive 
mark.  He  did  not  for  a  moment  seem  confused  in 
all  the  dire  and  murderous  carnage  and  disorder. 
He  had  shown  himself  the  possessor  of  the  rare  kind 
of  generalship  needed  by  defeated  armies.  The 
Virginia  riflemen  who  stood  by  him,  even  after 
severe  losses,  proved  that  they  were  just  the  men  to 
follow  such  a  leader.  The  British  loss  of  officers 
and  men,  killed  and  wounded,  was  nearly  eight  hun¬ 
dred  out  of  little  more  than  two  thousand  engaged. 
General  Braddock  warmly  expressed  his  admiration 
of  the  behavior  of  the  colonial  troops  and  his  in¬ 
debtedness  to  the  man  who  had  rallied  and  directed 
them.  He  could  have  had  no  idea  of  the  fact,  af¬ 
terward  expressed  by  Benjamin  Franklin,  that  the 
events  of  that  very  battle  served  wonderfully  well 
to  inspire  the  soldiers  of  the  colonies  with  a  confi¬ 
dence  in  themselves  which  they  had  lacked,  as  com¬ 
pared  with  disciplined  English  veterans.  General 
Braddock  died  a  few  days  afterward,  at  the  Great 
Meadows,  and  as  the  army  chaplain  was  among  the 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


65 


wounded,  Washington  himself  conducted  the  funeral 
services.  Utterly  defeated  and  dispirited,  the  entire 
force  gathered  for  that  campaign  gave  it  up,  and 
soon  retreated  into  Virginia.  The  one  man  who 
came  out  of  it  covered  with  honor  and  having  a 
stronger  hold  than  ever  upon  the  esteem  and  confi¬ 
dence  of  all  men,  in  all  the  colonies,  was  the  young 
Virginia  colonel,  George  Washington. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Once  More  a  Colonel.  — A  Trip  to  Boston. —  Visiting  in 
New  York. — Another  Love-affair. — Indian  War 
Desolating  the  Virginia  Fro?itier.  —  War  Operations 
at  Other  Points. — Mrs.  Martha  Washington. 

Washington  arrived  at  Mount  Vernon  on  the 
29th  of  July,  worn-out  with  sickness  and  by  the 
fatigues  and  disappointments  of  Braddock’s  cam¬ 
paign.  The  whole  colony  was  in  a  fever  of  cause¬ 
less  panic,  dreading  an  immediate  invasion  by  the 
French  and  Indians.  Measures  were  taken  to  pro¬ 
vide  for  the  public  defence  a  regiment  of  one  thou¬ 
sand  men,  and  Governor  Dinwiddie  was  compelled 
to  obey  the  unanimous  public  sentiment  which  de¬ 
manded  that  he  should  appoint  Washington  to  the 
command  of  it.  The  terms  on  which  he  accepted 
his  commission  gave  him  the  right  to  name  his  own 
field-officers,  and  made  him  commander-in-chief  of 
the  forces  of  the  colony.  It  was  a  striking  tribute 
to  the  reputation  he  had  won  through  the  recent 
disasters,  and  it  plunged  him  into  a  sea  of  diffi¬ 
culties  concerning  the  collection,  equipment,  and 
management  of  that  proposed  regiment.  He  was 
brought  to  face  and  endured  precisely  the  kind  of 
tribulation  that  was  afterward  to  vex  his  soul,  year 
after  year,  upon  a  wider  field,  and  the  training  was 
invaluable.  Before  he  consented  to  take  the  com- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


67 


mand  and  its  responsibilities,  he  received  letter  after 
letter  from  his  mother  urging  him  not  to  do  so. 
She  doubtless  wrote  with  vivid  pictures  in  her  moth¬ 
erly  mind  of  the  perils  he  had  recently  escaped. 
He  answered  her  lovingly,  but  with  a  firm  declara¬ 
tion  that  he  must  obey  the  call  of  public  duty. 
Looking  back  upon  an  unbroken  record  of  toil,  ex¬ 
posure,  discomfort,  disaster,  and  forward  to  a  sur¬ 
render  of  all  the  comforts  of  life,  he  refused  to  flinch, 
and  Mrs.  Washington  was  forced  to  give  the  matter 
up. 

The  autumn  and  the  early  winter  passed  in  a  con¬ 
stant  succession  of  rumors  and  alarms.  Some  of  the 
latter  reached  a  height  that  had  an  almost  ludicrous 
side  to  them,  but  for  the  known  horrors  of  Indian 
warfare.  Late  in  the  winter  a  dispute  arose  as  to 
the  occupation  of  Fort  Cumberland  by  Virginia  or 
Maryland  troops,  the  latter  colony  claiming  the 
ground  it  stood  upon.  It  was  decided  that  Colonel 
Washington  should  go  to  Boston  and  lay  the  matter 
before  Major-General  Shirley,  who  had  succeeded 
Braddock  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  British 
troops  in  North  America.  He  set  out  on  the  4th 
of  February,  1756,  leaving  Colonel  Adam  Stephen 
in  command  of  his  regiment,  and  taking  with  him 
two  young  Virginia  officers,  Captain  Mercer  and 
Captain  Stewart.  Travellers  were  scarce  in  those 
days  in  the  colonies,  and  the  arrival  of  such  an  em¬ 
bassy  at  any  village  or  town  was  considered  a  social 
event.  Washington's  name  and  fame  had  gone  be¬ 
fore  him,  and  he  was  everywhere  well  received.  In 
default  of  railways,  and  even  of  stage-coaches,  he 


68 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


and  his  friends  journeyed  on  horseback,  accompanied 
by  their  colored  servants  in  livery  and  by  pack- 
horses,  making  quite  a  brilliant  cavalcade.  Five 
hundred  miles  of  riding  in  midwinter  was  an  under¬ 
taking  every  way  noteworthy.  General  Shirley  de¬ 
cided  in  favor  of  Washington’s  claim  to  command 
Fort  Cumberland,  but  there  was  yet  an  important 
failure  in  one  object  of  the  journey.  The  rising 
colonial  colonel  had  dreamed  of  obtaining  regular 
44  king’s  commissions”  for  himself  and  his  fellow- 
officers  of  the  Virginia  regiment.  It  was  out  of  the 
question.  He  was  not  providentially  permitted  to 
bind  himself  by  any  oath  to  serve  the  King  of  Eng¬ 
land  or  to  escape  future  annoyances  and  insults  of 
“regular”  officers  serving  with  him  and  despising 
him  as  an  American — that  is,  regarding  him  as  a 
kind  of  human  being  half  way  between  an  English¬ 
man  in  uniform  and  a  red  Indian  without  any  kind 
of  uniform  but  some  paint.  Washington  remained 
ten  days  in  Boston,  receiving  much  social  attention, 
and  was  constantly  present  at  the  legislative  sessions, 
where  matters  of  military  importance  were  then 
under  discussion.  He  was  acquiring  an  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  a  people  with  whom  and  a  region  with 
which  he  was  to  have  further  relations,  then  un¬ 
dreamed  of.  From  Boston  he  returned  to  New 
York,  and  here  also  he  entered  with  zest  into  the  en¬ 
joyment  of  the  liberal  hospitalities  tendered  him. 
He  was  but  twenty-four  years  of  age,  and  it  was  in¬ 
evitable  that  his  name  should  be  permanently  asso¬ 
ciated  with  that  of  the  reigning  belle.  He  openly 
avowed  his  admiration  of  a  Miss  Phillipse,  heiress 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


69 


of  a  fine  estate  on  the  Hudson  River  ;  but  there  is 
no  evidence  that  his  suit  ever  went  so  far  as  a  pro¬ 
posal  and  refusal.  He  had  hardly  time  for  such  a 
campaign  as  might  have  been  required,  for  duty 
called  him  to  Virginia.  Before  the  end  of  March 
he  was  there  again,  urging  the  legislature  of  that 
colony  to  adopt  measures  for  the  capture  of  Fort 
Duquesne. 

The  alarms  of  savage  inroads  upon  the  frontiers 
of  the  colonies  were  no  longer  imaginary.  The  for¬ 
mer  Indian  allies  of  the  English  were  now  very  gen¬ 
erally  turned  against  them.  They  were  pressing  the 
outlying  Virginian  settlements  so  persistently  that 
even  the  forest  manor-house  of  Lord  Fairfax,  at 
Greenway  Court,  was  no  longer  a  safe  residence. 
The  eccentric  old  nobleman  was  a  man  of  obstinate 
courage,  and  he  refused  to  retreat,  though  every  day 
brought  its  terrible  tale  of  butchery  and  horror. 
Washington  hastened  to  Winchester,  but  found  the 
preparations  for  defence  altogether  inadequate.  The 
terrified  settlers  were  gathering  there  as  if  it  were  a 
place  of  safety,  but  all  his  attempts  to  summon 
the  Virginia  militia  to  his  aid  were  in  vain.  At 
last  it  was  reported,  on  seemingly  good  authority, 
that  the  enemy  were  advancing  to  the  attack  of 
Winchester  itself.  A  scouting  party  of  Washing¬ 
ton’s  men  was  attacked  and  nearly  destroyed  at 
Warm  Spring  Mountain,  only  twenty  miles  away. 
The  helpless  people  looked  up  to  the  young  com¬ 
mander  as  their  only  hope,  but  there  was  little  that 
he  could  do.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  the  governor, 
setting  forth  his  situation,  he  said  :  “  The  supplicat- 


70 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


ing  tears  of  the  women  and  moving  petitions  of 
the  men  move  me  to  such  deadly  sorrow  that  I 
solemnly  declare,  if  I  know  my  own  mind,  I  could 
offer  myself  a  willing  sacrifice  to  the  butchering 
enemy,  provided  that  would  contribute  to  the  peo¬ 
ple’s  ease.  M 

The  hero  shone  to  better  advantage  in  such  a 
scene,  decidedly,  than  in  the  most  brilliant  society 
of  New  York  or  Boston.  A  force  was  ordered  to 
his  assistance,  and  measures  for  the  protection  of 
the  frontier  were  tardily  voted  by  the  legislature  ; 
but  the  newspapers  threw  discredit  upon  both  the 
troops  and  their  commander.  They  managed  to 
sting  Washington  so  deeply  that  he  openly  declared 
that  only  the  public  danger  prevented  him  from  re¬ 
signing.  The  ,  written  expression  of  his  feelings 
brought  him  abundant  responses,  assuring  him  of 
the  public  confidence  and  affection.  Virginia  had 
no  other  man  just  then  to  take  his  place.  For  some 
unknown  cause  the  French  and  Indians  gave  up  their 
intended  attack  upon  Winchester  and  returned  to 
Fort  Duquesne,  but  Washington’s  work  went  on. 
His  letters  on  military  affairs  at  this  juncture  evince 
a  maturity  and  soundness  of  judgment  that  present 
with  wonderful  clearness  the  results  of  his  long  years 
of  hard  and  thoughtful  schooling.  He  urged  an 
entire  remodelling  of  the  militia  system  of  the 
colony,  and  the  adoption  of  a  new  line  of  frontier 
fortification  and  defence.  His  ideas  were  adopted 
in  part,  and  wherever  they  were  widely  deviated 
from,  the  result  proved  the  correctness  of  his  ad¬ 
vice.  A  chain  of  posts  was  planned,  at  short  inter- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


7 1 


vals  from  one  another,  along  the  exposed  line  ;  but 
Fort  Cumberland,  beyond  it,  was  uselessly  main¬ 
tained,  in  spite  of  Washington’s  protests.  The  Earl 
of  Loudoun  was  now  in  command  of  the  British 
forces  in  the  colonies,  as  well  as  royal  governor  of 
Virginia,  and  Dinwiddie  was  still  acting  under  him 
as  lieutenant-governor.  It  was  pretty  sure  that  the 
two  would  agree  upon  any  disputed  point  as  against 
a  mere  Virginian.  Between  them  they  were  doing 
a  good  work,  and  educating  the  colonists  thoroughly 
as  to  the  absurdity  of  such  a  country  as  America 
being  permanently  governed  by  gentlemen  from  so 
great  a  distance.  It  was  also  clearly  evident  before 
long  that  a  clique  in  the  colony,  jealous  of  Wash¬ 
ington,  were  doing  what  they  could  to  worry  his  hot 
temper  to  the  point  at  which  he  would  resign  his 
commission.  They  might  have  succeeded  but  for 
his  patriotism. 

The  French-Indian  war  went  on  all  the  while  in 
other  parts  of  the  colonies.  The  several  northern 
parts  of  Braddock’s  plan  had  long  since  crumbled 
with  his  own  defeat,  but  not  so  disastrously.  Early 
in  July  of  the  current  year,  while  Lord  Loudoun 
was  in  New  York,  hesitating  whether  or  not  to  send 
re-enforcements  to  the  two  British  forts  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Oswego  River,  Field-Marshal  the  Marquis 
de  Montcalm,  in  command  of  the  French  troops  in 
the  Canadas,  attacked  and  captured  both  of  them. 
He  also  strengthened  the  French  posts  at  Crown 
Point  and  Ticonderoga  on  Lake  Champlain,  and 
when  at  last  winter  put  an  end  to  army  operations, 
the  aspect  of  affairs  was  very  bad  for  the  English 


72 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


colonies.  If  matters  had  continued  to  go  on  in 
such  a  manner,  the  United  States  of  America  could 
never  have  come  into  existence. 

The  winter  passed  without  the  occurrence  of  any¬ 
thing  which  brought  Washington  into  special  promi¬ 
nence,  but  he  had  reason  to  believe  that  Lord  Lou¬ 
doun  had  been  given  a  poor  opinion  of  him.  There 
was  to  be  a  grand  conference  at  Philadelphia  in 
March  between  his  lordship  and  the  southern  colonial 
governors,  and  Washington  determined  to  go  there 
and  do  what  he  could  to  set  matters  in  a  true  light. 
He  wrote  to  Lord  Loudoun  a  long  letter,  present¬ 
ing  the  condition  of  military  affairs  in  Virginia,  to 
prepare  the  way.  Pie  also  asked  of  Lieutenant-Gov¬ 
ernor  Dinwiddie  official  permission  to  go,  and  it  was 
grudgingly  given  him. 

When  Washington  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  he 
found  that  his  letter  and  other  information  received 
by  the  commander-in-chief  had  removed  any  preju¬ 
dices  against  him.  He  was  respectfully  consulted 
throughout  the  conference,  and  obtained  his  wishes 
upon  several  points  ;  but  once  more  he  failed  to  se¬ 
cure  a  commission  in  the  British  regular  army.  He 
was  compelled  to  remain  entirely  and  forever  a  Vir¬ 
ginian  and  an  American. 

The  Philadelphia  conference,  with  Lord  Loudoun 
at  its  head,  laid  a  grand  plan  for  the  operations  of 
the  year  1757.  They  managed  to  prepare  for  a  re¬ 
markable  series  of  disasters  and  failures.  They  gave 
up  the  idea  of  at  once  assailing  the  French  posts  on 
Lake  Champlain,  and  determined  to  take  the  im¬ 
portant  French  post  of  Louisburg,  on  the  island  of 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


73 


Cape  Breton.  Lord  Loudoun  took  command  of  the 
expedition  organized  for  that  object,  and  by  mid¬ 
summer  following  set  sail  for  Halifax,  with  all  the 
troops  he  could  collect.  He  had  about  six  thousand 
men  with  him,  and  was  there  to  be  joined  by  a  strong 
fleet  and  six  thousand  more.  When  all  the  united 
force  sailed  from  Halifax  to  take  Louisburg,  they 
discovered  that  the  French  commanders  had  pre¬ 
pared  a  yet  more  powerful  fleet  to  receive  them. 
All  that  his  lordship  could  do  was  to  save  his  ships 
and  men  by  sailing  back  again,  and  that  part  of  the 
great  plan  ended  in  disgrace  and  ridicule.  Mean¬ 
time  the  ever-active  Montcalm  had  captured  Fort 
William  Henry,  on  Lake  George,  after  a  stubborn 
defence,  which  was  followed  by  a  barbarous  mas¬ 
sacre  of  part  of  the  surrendered  garrison  by  the  un¬ 
controllable  Indian  allies  of  the  French. 

On  the  Virginia  frontier  the  year  wore  away  the 
very  life  of  Washington  in  harassing  and  fatiguing 
services  that  were  marked  by  no  especial  feature  of 
disaster  or  success.  He  continued  to  suffer  from 
malarial  disorders,  and  began  to  fear  that  his  consti¬ 
tution  was  permanently  impaired.  He  also  suffered 
much  from  the  irritating  course  pursued  by  Gov¬ 
ernor  Dinwiddie,  who  was  probably  the  person  who 
had  misrepresented  him  to  Lord  Loudoun.  Part  of 
the  Virginia  troops  had  been  detached,  under  the 
great  plan,  for  service  in  South  Carolina.  So  small 
was  the  force  at  Washington’s  disposal,  that  he  was 
compelled  to  use  it  with  great  caution.  The  enemy 
were  at  all  times  pressing  him,  and  he  was  com¬ 
pelled  to  submit  to  the  sad  course  of  events.  The 


74 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


very  valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  in  which  he  had  done 
his  first  adventurous  surveying,  was  once  more  a 
wilderness,  deserted  by  its  inhabitants.  Toward  the 
close  of  the  year  he  yielded  to  the  advice  of  his 
physician,  and  retired  to  Mount  Vernon.  Early  in 
the  winter  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  hearing  that 
Dinwiddie  had  resigned  and  sailed  for  England,  to 
torment  him  no  more.  He  also  could  not  help 
knowing  that  his  services  were  understood  fairly  well 
by  the  people  ;  but, his  heart  was  unselfishly  heavy 
over  the  state  of  public  affairs,  and  his  bodily  dis¬ 
orders  made  him  despondent.  It  seems  to  have 
been  a  change  in  the  aspect  of  public  affairs  that 
helped  the  weary  young  patriot  to  get  well.  His 
health  improved  with  the  first  indication  that  vigor 
and  decision  were  to  take  the  place  of  such  bodily 
shapes  of  delay  and  disaster  as  Dinwiddie  and  Lord 
Loudoun.  William  Pitt  was  now  in  charge  of  the 
English  Government,  and  he  was  only  another  name 
for  energy.  The  new  lieutenant-governor  of  Vir¬ 
ginia,  Mr.  Francis  Fauquier,  had  not  arrived. 
Washington’s  personal  friend,  John  Blair,  president 
of  the  council  of  the  colony,  was  acting  in  his  place, 
ready  to  follow  good  advice  ;  and  in  April  of  the 
year  1758  the  restored  sick  man  was  once  more  with 
his  men  at  Fort  Loudoun  on  the  frontier. 

The  tide  of  events  turned  rapidly.  Another  ex¬ 
pedition  against  Louisburg  succeeded  completely. 
General  Abercrombie  was  defeated  in  an  attack 
upon  Fort  Ticonderoga,  but  Fort  Frontenac,  on  Lake 
Ontario,  was  captured  instead.  Great  preparations 
were  made  for  a  campaign  for  the  taking  of  Fort 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


75 


Duquesne,  and  Washington  entered  into  it  with  his 
whole  heart.  The  British  authorities  had  now  recog¬ 
nized  his  military  position,  placing  him  and  other 
provincial  colonels  on  an  equality  with  regular  army 
officers  of  the  same  rank.  He  was  not  subjected, 
therefore,  to  so  many  petty  annoyances,  but  had 
to  submit  to  a  great  one.  It  was  decided,  against 
his  will,  to  march  against  Fort  Duquesne  by  way  of 
Pennsylvania  instead  of  by  Braddock’s,  or  rather 
Washington's  old  road,  and  a  long,  disheartening 
delay  was  the  consequence.  There  were  also  minor 
disasters  to  small  bodies  of  men  pushed  forward  too 
far,  and  the  public  took  notice  of  the  worst  of  these 
and  that  Washington's  advice  had  been  once  more 
disregarded.  He  was  still  the  commander-in-chief 
of  the  Virginia  troops,  and  he  now  had  two  full  regi¬ 
ments  under  him,  not  to  speak  of  militia  and  occa¬ 
sional  Indians.  His  troops  were  so  greatly  in  need 
of  uniforms  that  he  caused  a  large  part  of  them  to 
adopt  the  Indian  hunting-dress,  and  put  it  on  him¬ 
self  to  set  them  an  example.  It  is,  on  the  whole,  a 
very  picturesque  uniform.  The  need  was  so  great 
of  many  other  things,  that  at  last  he  gave  up  writ¬ 
ing  letters  about  it,  and  set  off  on  horseback  to  lay 
the  condition  of  the  army  before  the  Virginia  legis¬ 
lature,  then  in  session  at  Williamsburg. 

This  was  one  of  the  most  important  journeys  of 
Washington’s  life.  He  was  crossing  the  Pamunkey 
River  when  he  fell  in  with  a  Mr.  Chamberlayne,  a 
planter  living  near,  and  was  invited  to  dine  with 
him.  The  soldier  was  in  a  great  hurry,  but  it  was 
necessary  to  eat,  and  he  yielded.  At  the  dinner- 


76 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


table  he  met  a  young  and  attractive  widow  lady,  a 
Mrs.  Martha  Custis.  Her  husband,  John  Parke 
Custis,  had  been  dead  about  three  years,  leaving  her 
with  two  small  children  and  a  large  property.  She 
was  not  tall,  but  had  a  pleasant  face  and  captivating 
manners.  She  entirely  captured  George  Washing¬ 
ton,  and  after  dinner  he  was  in  no  hurry  to  go  on  to 
Williamsburg.  He  did  not  go  until  the  next  day, 
and  when  he  went  he  was  conscious  that  his  errand 
had  widened  very  much,  for  Mrs.  Custis  lived  near 
that  town,  and  was  going  home.  She  had  other  ad¬ 
mirers,  and  Washington’s  duties  before  the  legis¬ 
lature  kept  him  very  busily  employed  ;  but  he  again 
proved  his  good  generalship.  Before  he  returned  to 
the  frontier,  Mrs.  Custis  had  promised  him  that  she 
would  marry  him  at  the  end  of  the  campaign.  From 
that  hour  onward  he  was  doubly  anxious  for  the  sur¬ 
render  of  Fort  Duquesne.  When  at  last  the  French 
garrison  left  in  that  important  post  found  that  the 
British  army  was  in  sight  of  them,  they  quietly 
burned  up  everything  that  would  burn  and  marched 
away,  just  as  they  would  have  done  before  for  Gen¬ 
eral  Braddock  if  he  had  not  thrown  away  his  army. 
They  had  no  great  military  need  of  Fort  Duquesne, 
while  the  English  colonists  needed  it,  or  its  absence, 
very  much.  It  was  rebuilt,  strengthened,  and  re¬ 
named  Fort  Pitt,  in  honor  of  the  British  prime-min¬ 
ister,  and  the  city  of  Pittsburg  takes  its  name  from 
it  to  this  day. 

The  fall  of  Fort  Duquesne  had  been  a  heart’s 
desire  of  Washington  for  years,  and  now  that  it  had 
come,  he  was  quite  contented  to  resign  his  com- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


77 


mission.  He  did  so,  therefore,  and  soon  after  his 
return  he  was  married,  on  the  6th  of  January,  1759, 
to  Mrs.  Martha  Custis,  at  her  residence  near  Will¬ 
iamsburg,  known  as  the  White  House.  The  wed¬ 
ding  was  made  a  grand  affair,  and  Washington’s 
mother  probably  felt  that  at  last  she  could  have 
some  hope  of  keeping  him  out  of  range  of  French 
and  Indian  rifles.  He  had  had  quite  enough  of 
rough,  hard  life,  and  was  well  entitled  to  all  the 
comforts  of  a  home. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Going  to  the  Legislature. — An  Attempt  at  Public 
Speaking. — Canada  Won  by  England. —  Well  Set¬ 
tled  in  Life. — Bright  Days  at  Mount  Vernon. — 
Negro  Slavery  in  its  Best  Conditions . — Pontiac  s 
War . 

While  Washington  was  yet  with  his  men  upon 
the  frontier,  he  had  determined  to  become  a  candi¬ 
date  for  the  House  of  Burgesses  as  the  representa¬ 
tive  of  Frederick  County.  There  were  three  other 
candidates,  and  the  canvass  promised  to  be  a  warm 
one  ;  but  Washington  refused  a  leave  of  absence  to 
go  home  and  take  an  active  part  in  it.  If  he  had 
been  an  old  and  cunning  politician,  he  could  not 
have  decided  more  prudently.  It  was  not  easy  to 
get  the  sturdy  farmers  to  vote  against  a  man  who 
was  at  that  moment  risking  his  life  and  scalp  on 
their  account,  and  they  elected  him,  in  his  absence, 
by  a  large  majority.  For  three  months  after  his 
marriage  he  and  his  wife  resided  at  her  old  home 
near  Williamsburg,  and  it  was  during  that  time  that 
he  first  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Burgesses. 
When  it  was  known  that  he  was  about  to  do  so,  his 
fellow-members  decided,  by  a  vote  of  the  House,  to 
make  the  occasion  one  of  especial  ceremony,  as  a 
mark  of  respect  and  public  gratitude.  When  he 
took  his  seat,  therefore,  the  Speaker  of  the  House, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


79 


Mr.  Robinson,  arose,  and  in  an  eloquent  address  ten¬ 
dered  him  the  thanks  of  the  colony  for  the  distin¬ 
guished  military  services  he  had  given  to  his  coun¬ 
try.  Washington  arose  to  reply,  but  he  was  no 
orator.  Words  failed  him  ;  he  blushed,  he  stam¬ 
mered,  and  he  sat  down  as  completely  defeated  as 
he  had  been  at  Fort  Necessity. 

“  Sit  down,  Mr.  Washington,”  said  the  speaker. 
“Your  modesty  equals  your  valor,  and  that  sur¬ 
passes  the  power  of  any  language  I  possess.” 

He  entered  at  once  upon  the  discharge  of  his 
legislative  duties,  attending  to  all  with  characteris¬ 
tic  industry.  He  was  without  special  faculty  as  a 
debater,  but  there  was  a  long  list  of  questions  relat¬ 
ing  to  the  affairs  of  the  colony  concerning  which  his 
known  opinion  was  sure  to  carry  a  majority  with  it. 
War  matters  still  held  the  foremost  place  in  the 
public  mind,  but  the  military  events  of  that  year 
worked  a  complete  and  final  change  in  the  owner¬ 
ship  of  North  America.  The  French  were  to  retain 
Louisiana  for  a  time,  but  the  Canadas  and  the  Ohio 
country  were  wrested  from  them  by  good  general¬ 
ship  and  hard  fighting  at  Quebec  and  elsewhere. 
One  French  statesman  declared  that  the  British 
Government  had  gained  Canada,  but  had  thereby 
lost  all  its  American  colonies.  These  would  no 
more,  he  said,  be  in  need  of  British  protection,  and 
would  surely  in  time  demand  their  independence. 
He  could  not  foresee  that  British  statesmen  would 
deliberately  set  themselves  at  work,  year  after  year, 
to  goad  and  drive  and  torment  the  colonies  into 
being  independent,  whether  they  would  or  not. 


8o 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


It  is  not  easy  to  imagine  any  man  in  more  com¬ 
fortable  circumstances  than  those  which  now  sur¬ 
rounded  George  Washington.  He  had  made  him¬ 
self  the  foremost  man  in  Virginia,  winning  a  fame 
which  extended  to  all  the  other  colonies,  and  even 
crossed  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  He  was  in  good  health, 
with  a  devoted  wife,  a  home  precisely  suited  to  his 
tastes,  and  with  it  what,  for  those  days,  was  very 
large  wealth.  He  was  trustee  of  the  property  of  his 
wife  and  her  children,  a  boy  and  girl,  and  to  these 
he  was  as  their  own  father.  He  had  once  had  a 
dream  of  travelling  in  Europe,  but  it  was  all  gone 
now.  He  was  more  than  ever  an  enthusiastic  agri¬ 
culturist,  and  took  hold  of  farming  as  the  one  occu¬ 
pation  in  which  he  could  be  entirely  happy. 

Mount  Vernon  is  beautifully  situated.  In  Wash¬ 
ington's  day  the  ample  grounds  around  it  were  well 
laid  out,  and  were  kept  in  good  order.  The  broad 
lands  belonging  to  him  in  the  vicinity  were  divided 
into  separate  farms,  with  each  its  own  routine  of 
crops,  its  overseer,  and  its  laborers.  He  himself 
exercised  a  careful  and  methodical  supervision  of 
them  all.  The  Potomac  River  bounded  the  estate 
on  the  north,  and  was  full  of  fish.  Game  was  abun¬ 
dant,  within  easy  hunting  reach.  Ships  wkh  cargoes 
from  England  or  from  other  colonial  ports  came  up 
to  Alexandria,  only  a  few  miles  away.  The  neigh¬ 
boring  planters  were  personal  friends  or  connections 
of  the  Washington  family.  The  very  slaves  on  the 
estate,  and  particularly  the  household  servants,  were 
proud  to  belong  to  Colonel  Washington.  It  was  an 
almost  perfect  picture  of  human  prosperity,  well 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


8 1 


deserved,  righteously  enjoyed,  and  it  should  be 
studied  thoughtfully.  Because  it  was  so  complete 
and  because  its  owner  loved  it  so  dearly  and  was  so 
happy  there,  it  offers  his  countrymen  something  by 
which  they  can  measure  imperfectly  the  unselfish 
patriotism  which  afterward  forced  him  to  give  it 
all  up  and  devote  the  best  years  of  his  life  to  their 
service. 

Farming  was  profitable  in  those  days,  and  par¬ 
ticularly  so  upon  the  rich  tide-water  lands  of  Vir¬ 
ginia.  Under  so  good  a  manager  as  Washington 
they  returned  abundant  crops  of  wheat,  Indian  corn, 
tobacco,  hay,  and  so  forth,  and  shipments  were 
made  directly  to  England  by  the  planters.  There 
were  hardly  any  manufactures  in  the  colonies.  The 
so-called  “  mother-country”  was  disposed  to  dis¬ 
courage  American  industries  which  might  some  day 
make  her  own  less  profitable.  A  prosperous  trade 
with  the  West  Indies  was  continually  carried  on, 
but  under  restrictions  so  burdensome  as  to  lead  to 
systematic  smuggling.  The  Mount  Vernon  mansion 
house  was  maintained  in  stately  style  from  the  pro¬ 
ceeds  of  Washington’s  successful  farming.  His 
stables  were  filled  with  fine  horses,  of  which  he  was 
fond  even  to  extravagance.  The  hospitality  ex¬ 
tended  to  all  who  were  entitled  to  it  a  liberal  wel¬ 
come,  and  when  Mrs.  Martha  Washington  chose  to 
take  a  drive,  her  chariot  was  drawn  by  four  thorough¬ 
breds  and  accompanied  by  mounted  colored  servants 
in  livery.  It  was  all  intensely  aristocratic  and  in 
imitation  of  European  ways,  but  it  was  strictly  in 
accord  with  the  notions  of  that  time.  A  leader  and 


82 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


ruler  for  the  American  colonies  could  hardly  have 
been  taken  from  any  other  rank  in  life.  It  required 
a  stately  and  patriotic  aristocrat  to  pilot  a  very 
mixed  and  cloudy-minded  people  into  genuine  re¬ 
publicanism  and  freedom. 

There  were  many  white  farmers  in  Virginia,  as  in 
the  other  colonies,  who  tilled  their  own  fields  ;  but 
upon  the  great  plantations  all  manual  labor  was  per¬ 
formed  by  negro  slaves.  Too  many  of  the  planters 
left  even  the  care  and  management  of  these  to  over¬ 
seers,  and  both  the  colored  people  and  their  masters 
suffered  the  consequences.  It  was  not  so  at  Mount 
Vernon.  The  slaves  owned  by  Washington  himself 
were  necessarily  many,  and  to  these  were  added 
those  of  the  Custis  family.  Among  them  were  not 
only  field  hands  and  house  servants,  but  mechanics 
of  various  kinds,  such  as  carpenters,  shoemakers, 
blacksmiths,  and  such  tailors  as  plantation  clothing 
called  for.  All  articles  of  luxury  and  many  of  the 
ordinary  farming  tools  were  imported  from  England. 
At  one  time  Washington  devised  an  improved 
plough,  and  spent  two  days  with  Peter,  his  black¬ 
smith,  manufacturing  one.  Then,  because  he  had 
no  other  horses  handy,  he  harnessed  two  of  his 
carriage  horses  to  that  plough,  and  began  to  break 
sod-ground  with  it.  He  treated  his  servants  kind¬ 
ly,  giving  them  particular  care  when  sick,  but  re¬ 
quired  of  them  all  exact  performance  of  their  al¬ 
lotted  tasks.  He  exercised  extreme  vigilance  in 
the  preparation  of  his  flour  and  tobacco  for  market, 
both  as  to  quantity  and  quality.  It  is  related  that 
this  became  so  well  understood  that  barrels  of  flour 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


83 


bearing  his  brand  were  permitted  to  enter  the  West 
India  markets  without  inspection.  He  was  an  early 
riser,  and  in  winter  was  often  up  before  daybreak. 
His  breakfast  hour  was  seven  in  summer  and  eight 
in  winter,  and  his  breakfast  was  of  the  simplest 
kind.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  mounting  his  horse 
at  once  after  breakfast  and  riding  away  to  inspect 
whatever  work  might  be  going  on.  Bad  weather 
hours  in  the  house  were  occupied  by  his  large  cor¬ 
respondence  and  by  his  account-books  and  journal. 
These  latter  were  kept  with  great  regularity,  and 
show  that  his  schoolboy  efforts  to  make  himself  a 
man  of  business  had  succeeded  completely. 

Dinner  was  served  at  two  o’clock,  and  was  eaten 
with  hearty  appetite  ;  but  Washington  was  some¬ 
what  careless  about  matters  of  cookery.  He  had 
cooked  his  own  dinner  by  a  camp-fire  many  a  time, 
and  had  often  been  without  any  dinner  at  all.  He 
was  fond  of  tea,  used  cider  and  home-made  small 
beer,  but  was  free  from  the  then  all  but  universal 
habit  of  hard  drinking.  At  dinner  two  wine-glasses 
of  Madeira  were  his  limit.  In  the  hunting  season 
he  went  out  enthusiastically  with  his  neighbors  or 
without  them,  but  he  is  said  to  have  been  more  suc¬ 
cessful  as  a  daring  rider  than  as  a  taker  of  foxes. 
He  was  fond  of  duck-shooting,  and  vigorously  drove 
away  intruders  who  came  to  spoil  the  sport  for  him 
along  the  borders  of  his  own  land.  Both  he  and  his 
wife  were  fond  of  society  at  their  own  home  and 
elsewhere,  and  they  had  an  abundance  of  it  ;  and  he 
is  said  to  have  been  a  good  dancer. 

With  all  this  rural  duty  and  pleasure  at  Mount 


84 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


Vernon,  Washington  did  not  for  a  moment  lose  sight 
of  the  course  of  public  events.  He  was  a  judge  of 
the  County  Court,  as  well  as  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Burgesses,  and  his  mind  was  full  of  ideas  con¬ 
cerning  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the 
colony.  He  conceived  a  plan  for  the  improvement 
of  the  Dismal  Swamp  region,  explored  it  himself, 
and  was  the  originator  of  the  methods  afterward 
tardily  adopted  for  its  improvement.  It  was  while 
he  was  thus  engaged  that  the  struggle  with  the 
Indian  tribes,  known  as  “  Pontiac’s  War.”  broke 
out.  Peace  between  France  and  England  had  been 
formally  declared  in  the  spring  of  1763,  but  it  was  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  the  savages  considered 
themselves  to  be  bound  by  it.  The  Six  Nations 
were  restrained  from  open  hostilities  by  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  but  the  tribes  of  the 
south  and  centre  formed  a  league  so  powerful  as  to 
threaten  the  whole  frontier  south  of  New  York. 
They  made  their  preparations  secretly,  and  in  the 
month  of  May  they  rose  so  suddenly  as  to  take  the 
whites  entirely  by  surprise.  Several  of  the  smaller 
frontier  forts  were  captured  and  their  garrisons  mas¬ 
sacred  ;  and  even  Fort  Pitt  and  Detroit  narrowly 
escaped.  The  trading-stations,  the  border  settle¬ 
ments,  the  scattered  farm-houses  of  western  Vir¬ 
ginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland  were  mercilessly 
swept  away.  There  was  hard  fighting  before  the 
terrible  work  was  checked,  but  for  once  Washington 
was  not  in  the  field.  He  had  done  his  share  of 
Indian-fighting,  and  others  might  take  their  turn. 
He  had  other  work  upon  his  hands,  and  he  was 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


85 


watching  the  growth  of  a  movement  which  neither 
he  nor  anybody  else  as  yet  understood.  It  was  the 
increasingly  severe  operation  of  the  policy  of  the 
party  in  power  in  England,  the  aim  of  which  was 
the  practical  enslavement  of  the  colonies.  The  best 
and  wisest  statesmen  of  England  loudly  but  vainly 
protested  against  that  policy,  and  it  is  not  easy,  at 
this  day,  to  comprehend  the  state  of  mind  of  the 
arrogant  men  who  insisted  upon  carrying  it  out  to 
the  bitter  end.  By  a  long  succession  of  acts  of  Par¬ 
liament,  Great  Britain  had  bound  American  trade  as 
with  so  many  iron  fetters.  An  American  was  not 
permitted  to  manufacture  specified  goods  for  himself 
— he  must  buy  them  in  England  and  bring  them 
home  in  an  English  ship,  after  paying  duties  on  them 
to  England.  Whatever  his  land  produced  that  was 
suitable  for  exportation  he  must  ship  only  to  ports 
in  the  possession  of  the  British  Crown.  America 
was  to  be,  forever,  a  mere  feeder  to  Great  Britain, 
and  its  inhabitants  were  to  have  no  voice  in  the 
matter  whatever. 

There  could  be  but  one  last  result  of  such  in¬ 
sanity,  but  the  colonists  were  intensely  loyal,  espe¬ 
cially  those  of  Virginia,  and  they  bore  the  galling 
yoke  with  a  sort  of  helpless  patience  for  a  long  while. 
During  their  earlier  history  they  had  been,  in  fact, 
entirely  helpless  ;  but  the  times  were  changing  now. 
The  colonies  were  growing  rapidly.  They  were  full 
of  men  familiar  with  public  affairs,  and  who  had 
served  in  camps  and  battle-fields.  The  increasing 
commerce  of  their  seaports  clamored  for  free  mar¬ 
kets  and.  free  ships.  A  generation  had  arisen  which 


86 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


had  vaguely  learned  to  consider  itself  “  American” 
rather  than  “  English,”  and  one  of  its  most  ac¬ 
tive  young  men,  from  childhood,  had  been  George 
Washington,  now  a  member  of  the  Virginia  House 
of  Burgesses.  In  all  the  other  colonies,  as  well  as 
in  his  own,  there  were  other  men  more  or  less  like 
him,  chafing  and  getting  restless,  day  by  day,  as  the 
tone  of  foreign  despotism  became  more  insolent  and 
menacing.  From  all  observations  of  this  kind,  how¬ 
ever,  it  is  necessary  to  omit  the  recently  conquered 
French  provinces  north  of  the  St.  Lawrence  River. 
There  were  no  Americans  there  to  do  any  thinking. 
Their  population  consisted  of  Frenchmen,  Indians, 
a  few  immigrants  who  had  come  in  since  the  con¬ 
quest,  and  over  these  the  domination  of  British  au¬ 
thority,  civil  or  military,  was  absolute  and  unques¬ 
tioned. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Pressing  the  Colonies  Together . — Old  Colony  News. — 
New  E?igland  Matters. — Taxatio?i  without  Repre¬ 
sentation. — Friends  of  America  in  England. — 
Patrick  Henry's  Resolutions.  —  The  Stamp  Act. — 
The  Tax  o?i  Tea.  — A  Death  in  the  Mount  Vernon 
Family. 

There  were  no  telegraphic  cables  between  America 
and  England,  nor  were  there  newspapers,  as  we  now 
have  them  ;  but  all  decrees  of  the  British  ministry 
and  all  acts  of  Parliament  relating  to  colonial  affairs 
were  speedily  printed  and  circulated  and  known  in 
the  colonies.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  commercial 
correspondence,  which  of  necessity  had  in  it  much 
concerning  “  duties”  imposed  ;  and  public  men  on 
this  side  of  the  water  were  pretty  sure  to  exchange 
frequent  letters  with  public  men  on  that  side  who 
were  in  sympathy  with  them. 

Communication  between  the  several  colonies  was 
slow  and  imperfect,  but  nothing  of  importance  could 
happen  in  one  of  them  which  did  not  rapidly  be¬ 
come  public  news  in  all  the  others.  Then,  as  after¬ 
ward,  there  was  much  local  feeling  and  much  sec¬ 
tional  jealousy.  Just  the  sort  of  pressure  England 
was  now  using  was  needed  to  bring  the  scattered 
little  commonwealths  nearer  together  in  feeling. 
The  general  character  of  the  French  and  Indian  wars 


88 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


had  done  much,  for  the  entire  frontier  had  been 
scourged.  Now  the  whole  stretch  of  the  seacoast, 
at  every  port,  was  to  be  made  to  understand  that  it 
belonged  to  one  people,  having  interests  in  com¬ 
mon.  The  pockets  of  all  men  everywhere  were  to 
be  searched,  and  even  their  houses  were  to  be  en¬ 
tered,  that  in  due  season  they  might  all  become  full 
of  wrath  for  the  same  causes,  at  the  same  hour,  and 
as  one  family. 

News  of  every  sort  came  steadily  to  Mount  Ver¬ 
non.  It  is  not  necessary  to  relate  all,  but  it  is  well 
to  look  at  a  few  of  the  matters  that  were  brought  to 
Washington  from  time  to  time.  He  was  forced  to 
study  them  as  they  arrived,  and  in  all  that  study  he 
was  preparing  himself  for  the  great  storm  soon  to 
come.  In  the  year  1760,  in  Boston,  the  customs 
officers  applied  to  the  courts  for  writs  that  would 
authorize  them  to  break  open  ships,  stores  and 
dwellings,  in  search  of  smuggled  goods.  James  Otis 
argued  against  granting  the  writs  with  such  power 
and  force  that  his  hearers  were  ready  to  take  up 
arms  at  once.  Among  them  was  John  Adams,  and 
he  declared,  afterward,  “  Then  and  there  American 
independence  was  born/’  He  was  hardly  correct 
about  that,  for  it  had  quite  a  number  of  supposable 
birthplaces,  and  was  a  vigorous  sort  of  child  long 
before  any  name  was  given  to  it. 

The  next  blow  was  at  the  independence  of  the 
judiciary.  The  British  ministry  instructed  the 
colonial  governors  to  issue  commissions  to  judges  to 
serve  not  “  during  good  behavior,”  but  “  during  the 
king’s  pleasure.”  That  meant,  “as  long  as  they 


GE OR GE  IV A  SUING  TON. 


89 


shall  decide  all  questions  in  a  manner  to  suit  the 
British  Tory  Administration.  ”  New  York  took  the 
lead  in  opposing  this  piece  of  tyranny.  Shortly  after 
the  close  of  the  French  and  Indian  War,  all  vessels 
of  the  British  navy  cruising  in  American  waters  or 
anchored  in  American  harbors  were  ordered  to  take 
up  the  business  of  catching  smugglers.  The  Ameri¬ 
cans  were  driving  a  profitable  trade  with  other  na¬ 
tions  than  England,  and  it  must  be  broken  up.  It 
was  an  act  of  war  upon  the  budding  commerce  of 
America,  and  all  men  could  see  that  there  was  a 
great  wrong  in  it. 

All  the  colonies  took  fire  at  this  act,  and  retaliated 
by  refusing  to  buy  British  manufactures.  People 
dressed  in  homespun  and  denied  themselves  many 
luxuries,  and  the  smugglers  were  more  popular  than 
ever. 

In  1764  the  British  Parliament  debated  the  ques¬ 
tion  whether  or  not  they  had  a  legal  right  to  tax 
America.  It  was  formally  decided  that  they  were 
in  need  of  money,  and  that  therefore  they  had  a 
right  to  get  as  much  as  possible  out  of  the  colonies. 
Such  laws  as  already  existed  for  that  purpose  were 
thenceforth  to  be  enforced  more  vigorously.  Others 
were  to  be  invented,  passed,  and  put  into  operation, 
and  the  great  American  pocket  was  to  be  assailed  in 
every  way  that  could  be  thought  of,  but  without 
giving  America  any  voice  in  the  matter. 

Now  again  the  people  of  New  England  were  first 
to  be  heard  in  opposition.  They  claimed  their  right 
as  freemen  to  be  taxed  by  nobody  but  themselves, 
or  through  their  representatives  chosen  by  them- 


9° 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


selves.  New  York  and  Virginia  followed  New  Eng¬ 
land,  and  closely  behind  them  followed  Pennsylvania 
and  South  Carolina.  Agents  were  sent  to  England 
to  co-operate  with  Benjamin  Franklin  in  opposing 
the  continuance  of  a  course  of  action  so  full  of  mis¬ 
chief.  There  were  wise  men  enough  in  England,  in 
and  out  of  Parliament,  who  understood  the  temper 
of  the  colonies,  and  who,  with  voice  and  pen,  argued 
powerfully  against  the  disastrous  policy  of  the  minis¬ 
try,  but  in  vain.  It  was  determined  that  American 
opposition  must  be  put  down,  and  that  the  burden 
laid  upon  them  should  be  made  yet  more  heavy  and 
galling. 

In  March,  1765,  Parliament  passed  the  act  that  is 
famous  in  American  history  as  the  “  Stamp  Act.” 
By  the  terms  of  this  remarkable  law,  all  legal  instru¬ 
ments  in  writing,  in  order  that  they  might  be  legal, 
were  to  be  executed  upon  stamped  paper,  to  be  pur¬ 
chased  from  the  agents  of  the  British  Government. 
Knowing  beforehand  the  probable  verdicts  to  be 
obtained  against  an  American  political  offender 
from  any  twelve  of  his  patriotic  American  neighbors, 
the  ministry  wiped  out  “  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  ” 
in  this  class  of  cases.  The  Stamp  Act  provided 
that  all  offences  against  it  could  be  tried  in  any 
royal,  marine,  or  admiralty  court  throughout  the 
colonies,  however  distant  from  the  place  where  the 
offence  was  committed.  A  man  failing  to  obey  the 
British  ministry  upon  the  Georgia  frontier  could  be 
tried  and  punished  in  Nova  Scotia. 

It  was  now  the  turn  of  Virginia  to  speak  first,  and 
she  had  rightly  been  considered  the  most  zealously 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 


91 


loyal  of  the  colonies.  The  discussion  of  the  Stamp 
Act  by  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  began  on  the 
29th  of  May.  Washington  was  in  his  seat,  and  all 
his  letters  written  in  those  days  show  what  his  opin¬ 
ions  were  ;  but  he  was  no  orator,  and  his  time  for 
something  more  than  oratory  had  not  come.  The 
honor  of  denouncing  the  tyranny  of  the  British  min¬ 
istry  fell  upon  a  young  lawyer  named  Patrick  Henry. 
He  was  then  a  member  of  the  House  for  the  first 
time,  but  had  already  won  a  reputation  for  uncom¬ 
mon  eloquence.  He  arose,  and  offered  resolutions 
declaring  that  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  had 
the  exclusive  right  and  power  to  lay  taxes  and  impo¬ 
sitions  upon  the  inhabitants,  and  that  whoever  main¬ 
tained  the  contrary  should  be  deemed  an  enemy  of 
the  colony. 

It  was  a  new  and  daring  utterance,  that  declared 
a  royal  ministry  and  a  majority  of  the  British  Par¬ 
liament  enemies  of  Virginia.  The  Speaker,  Mr. 
Robinson,  objected  to  the  resolutions  as  inflam¬ 
matory,  but  he  only  stirred  up  Patrick  Henry  to  a 
yet  more  fiery  vindication  of  his  resolutions.  It 
was  in  the  course  of  his  speech  on  this  occasion 
that  he  uttered  the  memorable  warning  :  “  Caesar 
had  his  Brutus,  Charles  his  Cromwell,  and  George 
the  Third  *' — cries  of  “  Treason  !  Treason  !”  came 
from  near  the  Speaker’s  chair,  and  Henry  added, 
with  a  low  bow  in  that  direction — “  may  profit  by 
their  example.  Sir,  if  this  be  treason,  make  the 
most  of  it.  ” 

The  result  of  the  debate  was  that  the  resolutions 
were  somewhat  toned  down,  to  meet  the  views  of 


92 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


moderate  men  like  Speaker  Robinson  ;  but  they 
were  left  so  strong  that  they  alarmed  the  lieutenant- 
governor,  Fauquier,  so  that  he  at  once  dissolved  the 
Assembly.  He  issued  writs  for  a  new  election, 
as  if  there  were  a  hope  that  the  people  of  Virginia 
would  choose  men  who  were  in  favor  of  the  Stamp 
Act. 

All  the  colonies  were  on  fire,  and  it  was  as  if  all 
men,  everywhere,  at  once  adopted  Patrick  Henry’s 
resolutions.  The  popular  will  added  to  them  a  re¬ 
fusal  to  buy  or  use  stamped  paper,  and  a  determina¬ 
tion  to  burn  all  of  it  that  could  be  seized  upon. 
Stamp  agents  were  hung  in  effigy,  or  had  their 
offices  sacked  and  their  windows  broken.  Courts 
adjourned  rather  than  issue  stamped  papers.  Busi¬ 
ness  almost  ceased,  except  such  as  could  be  done  for 
cash  or  on  verbal  contract.  At  the  suggestion  of  the 
Assembly  of  Massachusetts,  called  the  General  Court, 
a  Congress  was  held  in  New  York,  in  October. 
Delegates  were  present  from  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  and  South  Carolina. 
George  Washington  was  not  a  member  of  this  first 
brief  Congress.  He  was  at  home  at  Mount  Vernon, 
managing  his  estate  as  usual,  and  at  the  same  time 
industriously  urging  forward  an  association  of  all 
Americans  to  agree  not  to  buy  or  use  British  goods. 
His  letters  were  all  moderate  and  guarded  in  their 
expression,  but  his  clear  understanding  of  the  situa¬ 
tion  can  be  found  in  one  dated  a  few  months  later. 
The  storm  of  opposition  to  the  Stamp  Act  became 
so  black  and  threatening  that  the  British  Govern- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


93 


ment  finally  gave  it  up,  and  in  March,  1766,  it  was 
repealed.  It  was  then  that  Washington  wrote  to  a 
friend  :  “  Had  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  re¬ 
solved  upon  enforcing  it,  the  consequences,  I  con- 
*  ceive,  would  have  been  more  direful  than  is  gener¬ 
ally  apprehended,  both  to  the  mother  country  and 
her  colonies.  ” 

There  was  a  great  deal  expressed  in  the  word 
“direful  ”  used  by  such  a  man  as  Washington.  It 
meant  more  than  did  even  the  fevered  eloquence  of 
Patrick  Henry. 

When  Benjamin  Franklin  was  summoned  before 
the  House  of  Commons  to  answer  questions  put  to 
him  concerning  American  public  opinion,  he  was 
asked  : 

“  Do  you  think  the  people  of  America  would  sub¬ 
mit  to  pay  the  stamp  duty  if  it  was  moderated  ?”  and 
he  replied  :  “  No,  never,  unless  compelled  by  force 
of  arms.” 

It  was  not  a  question  of  a  small  tax  or  a  large 
one,  but  of  a  right  and  a  wrong.  Nevertheless,  in 
spite  of  all  that  they  had  learned,  the  British  Parlia¬ 
ment  embodied  the  bone  of  contention  in  the  repeal 
of  the  Stamp  Act.  They  inserted  a  clause  declaring 
that  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  with  the  consent  of 
Parliament,  had  power  to  make  laws  and  statutes  of 
sufficient  force  and  validity  to  “  bind  the  colonies 
and  people  of  America  in  all  cases  whatsoever.” 

They  held  out  the  chain,  handcuffs  and  all,  and 
said  to  the  freemen  of  the  colonies  :  “  When¬ 

ever  we  please  to  put  them  on,  you  must  wear 
them.  ” 


94 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


Precisely  how  and  when  they  should  so  please  be¬ 
came  of  less  and  less  importance  after  that,  but  they 
exhibited  a  positive  diligence  in  keeping  the  hated 
fetters  in  sight.  Act  followed  act,  imposing  duties 
collectable  in  the  ports  of  the  colonies,  upon  article 
after  article.  Naval  officers  were  ordered  to  enforce 
rigidly  the  laws  restricting  American  trade  and  navi¬ 
gation.  What  was  called  the  **  Mutiny  Act”  of 
England  was  made  to  cover  America,  with  a  special 
provision  that  the  colonial  legislatures  must  provide 
all  British  troops  sent  to  America  with  quarters,  fire, 
beds,  candles,  and  other  necessaries.  So  long  as  this 
should  be  restricted  to  troops  on  the  march — as,  for 
instance,  in  a  movement  against  French  or  Indians 
— the  colonies  did  not  object.  It  was  well  under¬ 
stood  now,  however,  that  troops  ”  in  garrison,”  if 
even  for  the  purpose  of  overawing  the  colonies,  were 
also  meant.  The  governor  and  Assembly  of  New 
York  acted  at  once,  and  refused  to  comply.  Parlia¬ 
ment  retaliated  by  passing  an  act  which  suspended 
the  powers  of  both  governor  and  Assembly  until 
they  should  give  up  their  opposition. 

The  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  petitioned 
the  King  of  England  concerning  all  of  the  obnoxious 
laws,  and  then  drew  up  and  sent  out  a  circular  to 
all  the  other  colonial  legislatures,  urging  them  to 
join  in  efforts  to  obtain  redress.  For  this  offence, 
persisted  in,  Sir  Francis  Bernard,  the  royal  governor, 
at  once  dissolved  the  General  Court.  The  governors 
of  all  the  other  colonies  demanded  of  the  several 
colonial  legislatures  assurances  that  they  would  take 
no  action  called  for  by  the  Massachusetts  circular, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


95 


and  when  such  assurances  were  refused,  they  too 
were  dissolved.  The  members  were  sent  home  to 
tell  the  people  that  henceforth  a  colonial  legislature 
was  expected  to  exist  as  a  mere  tool  of  the  British 
ministry. 

To  all  these  oppressions,  and  step  by  step  as  time 
went  on,  was  added  the  plain  assurance  that  the  as¬ 
serted  authority  of  King  and  Parliament  would  be 
sustained,  if  necessary,  by  armed  force.  There  had 
been  riotous  collisions  between  the  people  and  the 
officers  of  the  hated  laws  in  several  places  already. 
Boston  was  particularly  unruly,  and  at  last  a  fleet  of 
seven  armed  vessels  sailed  into  the  harbor,  having 
on  board  two  full  regiments  of  British  troops  to  act 
as  a  permanent  garrison  of  that  town.  A  town 
meeting  was  at  once  held,  at  which  it  was  decided 
that  the  King  of  England  had  no  right  to  garrison 
the  city  of  Boston,  and  the  selectmen  accordingly 
refused  to  furnish  the  troops  with  quarters.  By  the 
governor’s  orders,  therefore,  such  of  the  troops  as 
were  provided  with  tents  encamped  on  Boston 
Common.  Others  occupied  the  State  House,  and 
others  turned  Faneuil  Hall  into  a  sort  of  bar¬ 
racks. 

No  attempt  is  necessary,  in  a  life  of  Washing¬ 
ton,  to  present  all  the  interesting  historical  events 
of  these  stirring  times  minutely  or  in  relation  to  the 
acts  of  other  men.  He  kept  himself  well  informed 
of  all,  and  the  spirit  with  which  he  did  so  may  be 
gathered  from  a  letter  he  wrote  to  his  friend,  George 
Mason,  of  Virginia,  dated  April  5th,  1769.  “  At  a 

time,”  he  wrote,  “  when  our  lordly  masters  in  Great 


96 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


Britain  will  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  the 
deprivation  of  American  freedom,  it  seems  highly 
necessary  that  something  should  be  done  to  avert 
the  stroke  and  maintain  the  liberty  which  we  have 
derived  from  our  ancestors/’ 

He  believed  that  some  effect  could  be  produced 
by  starving  British  trade  with  the  colonies  ;  but  he 
must  have  seen  that  a  complete  change  in  British 
policy  must  needs  come,  or  that  there  would  soon 
be  hard  work  for  the  troops  camped  on  Boston 
Common. 

Changes  from  time  to  time  in  the  British  ministry 
were  of  small  importance,  so  long  as  man  after  man 
adhered  to  the  general  outline  of  the  course  already 
adopted  as  to  the  colonies.  Early  in  the  year  1 770, 
however,  Lord  North  became  prime-minister,  and 
it  was  as  if  all  the  vicious  ideas  of  British  supremacy 
had  been  given  power  for  mischief  in  the  person  of 
one  man.  King  George  the  Third  was  really  that 
man,  and  Lord  North  was  a  mere  automaton  to 
move  as  the  King  willed.  He  began  his  administra¬ 
tion  by  an  act,  shaped  into  an  act  of  Parliament, 
which  concentrated  the  entire  question  of  colonial 
taxation.  It  was  an  act  repealing  the  several  laws 
passed  in  the  year  1767  imposing  duties,  with  the 
single  exception  of  the  duty  on  tea.  When  urged 
to  repeal  this  also,  he  responded  that  it  was  retained 
“  to  maintain  the  Parliamentary  right  of  taxation/' 
Again  he  said,  “  A  total  repeal  cannot  be  thought 
of  till  America  is  prostrate  at  our  feet.” 

That  was  likely  to  be  a  very  long  while.  The  dis¬ 
turbances  in  the  colonies  were  getting  worse  and 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


97 


worse  every  hour,  and  men  and  women  alike  were 
preparing  to  get  along  without  tea. 

Washington  had  been  out  into  the  Ohio  country 
on  a  peculiarly  adventurous  expedition,  but  had  re¬ 
turned  in  safety.  He  was  one  of  the  Virginia  Board 
of  Commissioners  to  settle  the  war  claims  held 
against  the  colony  by  officers  and  soldiers  of  the 
French  and  Indian  war.  Two  hundred  thousand 
acres  of  land  belonged  to  these  men,  and  to  Wash¬ 
ington  among  them.  The  Six  Nations  had  ceded  to 
Virginia  their  lands  south  of  the  Ohio,  and  squatters 
and  speculators  were  already  claiming  and  pre¬ 
empting  them.  For  his  comrades  and  himself,  there¬ 
fore,  Washington  made  a  tour  of  the  region  in¬ 
dicated,  that  he  might  select  and  mark  off  the  lands 
required  to  satisfy  the  war  claims,  and  then  apply 
to  the  Government  for  a  regular  grant  and  money. 
He  had  an  experience  that  carried  him  back  to  his 
old  campaigning  days,  for  he  had  to  pass  through 
the  scenes  of  his  hardest  frontier  warfare.  He  was 
able  to  go  farther  into  the  wilderness  now,  but  not 
without  some  peril  from  the  Indians.  He  met  some 
of  these  whom  he  knew,  as  well  as  old  acquaint¬ 
ances  among  the  traders  and  backwoodsmen.  He 
accomplished  the  objects  of  his  expedition  with  his 
customary  persistency,  for  others  as  well  as  for  him¬ 
self,  but  there  was  now  before  him  a  more  important 
field  of  action  than  all  the  land  south  of  the  Ohio 
could  then  have  offered  him. 

Lord  Dunmore,  at  one  time  Governor  of  New 
York,  was  now  Governor  of  Virginia.  There  was  a 
strong  personal  friendship  between  him  and  Wash- 


98 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


ington,  but  he  had  managed  to  give  offence  to  the 
Virginians  generally.  He  found  the  House  of  Bur¬ 
gesses  a  dangerous  body  when  in  session,  and  so 
prorogued  and  sent  them  home  as  often  as  they 
came  together.  The  affairs  of  the  colony  absolute¬ 
ly  required  legislation  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1773, 
and  so  his  lordship  convened  the  House  of  Burgesses, 
and  permitted  it  to  go  to  work.  Washington  came 
with  the  rest,  and  joined  them  in  a  step  that  was 
sure  to  carry  the  American  cause  forward.  This 
was  the  appointment  of  a  standing  committee  of 
eleven  persons,  to  correspond  with  the  patriots  of 
the  other  colonies,  and  to  watch  and  keep  the  people 
advised  of  all  acts  or  proposed  acts  of  the  British 
Government  with  reference  to  American  affairs. 
Massachusetts  responded  at  once  by  the  appoint¬ 
ment  of  a  similar  committee,  and  the  other  colonies 
rapidly  followed.  It  was  a  concerted  movement 
toward  co-operation  and  eventual  union. 

Lord  Dunmore  planned  a  tour  of  the  western 
frontier  during  that  coming  summer,  and  invited 
Washington  to  accompany  him.  He  wished  to  have 
the  advantage  of  experienced  advice,  and  for  public 
as  well  as  personal  reasons,  Washington  readily  as¬ 
sented.  His  going  with  Lord  Dunmore  was  pre¬ 
vented  by  a  sad  event  in  his  own  household. 

Strong  and  firm  as  was  the  rule  of  Washington 
in  his  own  family,  it  had  not  been  possible  for  him 
to  exercise  absolute  fatherly  authority  over  his  step¬ 
children.  The  elder,  John  Parke  Custis,  had  been 
a  source  of  much  anxiety.  Of  a  mercurial  and  im¬ 
pulsive  disposition,  possessed  of  a  fortune  in  his  own 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


99 


right,  he  was  surrounded  by  many  temptations  to 
self-indulgence.  He  was  more  fond  of  out-door 
sports  than  of  his  books,  but  his  education  had  gone 
on  fairly  well  under  a  tutor.  When  he  was  sixteen 
years  of  age  it  required  decided  action  on  the  part 
of  his  step-father  to  break  up  a  plan  for  an  extended 
tour  in  Europe,  in  company  with  his  tutor.  He 
was  too  young  and  knew  too  little,  and  foreign 
travel  was  postponed.  A  year  or  so  later  the  young 
man  was  not  only  in  love,  but  under  promise  of  mar¬ 
riage  to  a  very  estimable  young  lady.  Once  more 
the  hard-hearted  step-father  was  compelled  to  inter¬ 
fere  and  send  the  boy  to  college  instead  of  into 
matrimony. 

There  were  reasons  why  the  affection  of  Mrs. 
Washington  should  centre  upon  her  only  son  and 
render  her  an  over-indulgent  mother.  She  was  only 
too  sure  that  he  would  be  also  her  only  child  before 
long.  Her  daughter,  always  fragile,  was  manifestly 
in  a  slow  decline.  Early  in  the  summer  of  1773  her 
symptoms  visibly  changed  for  the  worse,  and  when 
Washington  returned  from  his  legislative  duties,  he 
found  her  in  the  last  stages  of  consumption.  He 
had  been  strongly  attached  to  her,  and  there  is  a 
touching  record  of  the  sorrowing  earnestness  with 
which  he  kneeled  by  her  bedside  and  prayed  for  her 
recovery.  Her  death  took  place  on  the  19th  of 
June,  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  her  age. 

Mrs.  Washington  was  now  in  need  of  her  hus¬ 
band’s  society  and  care,  and  he  remained  at  home, 
sending  such  hints  and  travelling  advice  as  he  could 
to  Lord  Dunmore. 


IOO 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


About  eight  months  later  John  Parke  Custis  in¬ 
sisted  upon  leaving  college  and  getting  married. 
Mrs.  Washington,  more  than  ever  indulgent,  gave 
her  consent,  and  her  husband  deemed  it  wise  not  to 
make  any  further  opposition,  although  the  young 
man  was  not  yet  twenty-one  years  of  age. 


CHAPTER  X. 


The  Boston  Tea-Party. — The  Boston  Port  Bill. — A 
Call  for  a  General  Congress.  —  Washington  Sent  to 
Congress. — The  Declaration  of  Rights. — “  We  Must 
Fight  r 

The  year  1773  was  full  of  great  events,  and  Wash¬ 
ington’s  head  and  heart  had  other  loads  upon  them 
than  such  as  he  found  at  Mount  Vernon. 

Since  the  Americans  gave  up  the  use  of  tea,  great 
quantities  of  it  had  accumulated  in  the  hands  of  the 
British  East  India  Company.  What  was  worse,  the 
refusal  of  the  Americans  to  buy  and  drink  was  a  sort 
of  rebellion  against  the  British  ministry.  In  the 
words  of  Lord  North,  they  must  be  “  laid  prostrate 
at  our  feet.”  All  America  must  take  tea  as  a  bever¬ 
age  or  suffer  the  penalty.  Export  duties  in  Eng¬ 
land  were  taken  off,  so  that  the  tea  could  be  sold 
very  cheap,  and  that  was  to  be  a  bribe  to  money- 
loving  colonists.  More  ships  and  more  soldiers  were 
sent  over,  and  that  was  a  salutary  warning. 

At  about  the  same  time,  cargoes  of  tea  were  sent 
over  to  all  the  leading  American  ports.  From  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  they  were  sent  back  without 
unloading,  because  nobody  would  receive  the  car¬ 
goes.  At  Charleston  the  tea  was  sent  ashore,  only 
to  be  stored  away  in  cellars,  where  it  soon  spoiled. 
The  people  of  Boston  made  their  answer  to  Lord 


102 


GEORGE  IV A  SUING  TON. 


North  in  a  spirit  of  grim,  sober-minded  fun.  The 
tea  ships  anchored  in  the  harbor,  and  their  captains 
quickly  discovered  that  it  was  not  well  to  put  any 
large  amount  of  that  tea  ashore.  A  few  small  pack¬ 
ages  were  tried  as  a  test,  but  the  Bostonians  forbade 
the  sale  of  them,  and  the  captains  would  gladly  have 
sailed  back  to  England.  Here  came  in  the  authority 
of  the  British  Government,  and  the  ships  were 
officially  prevented  from  leaving  the  harbor.  The 
people  helped  the  captains  out  of  their  difficulty. 
A  number  of  them,  disguised  as  Indians,  boarded  the 
ships  in  the  night,  broke  open  all  the  chests  of  tea, 
and  emptied  them  into  the  harbor.  It  was  done 
very  quietly  and  methodically,  and  then  the  Puri¬ 
tanical  Mohawks  went  home,  speaking  of  their  har¬ 
bor  as  the  “  Boston  teapot.  ”  They  had  certainly 
prepared  for  themselves  a  great  deal  of  what  is  called 
“  hot  water.” 

Lord  North's  administration  at  once  determined 
to  make  a  terrible  example  of  Massachusetts  and  of 
Boston,  as  a  wholesome  warning  to  the  other  colo¬ 
nies.  Three  successive  acts  of  Parliament  expressed 
the  wrath  of  the  ministry  at  the  stubbornness  of 
America  upon  the  subject  of  tea.  The  first,  called 
the  Boston  Port  Bill,  closed  the  harbor  of  Boston 
and  transferred  all  commercial  business,  customs 
officers,  and,  so  it  was  intended,  all  prosperity  and 
the  life  of  the  rebellious  town,  to  Salem.  The 
second  law  changed  the  charter  of  the  colony,  and 
provided  that  all  its  counsellors,  judges,  and  mag¬ 
istrates  should  thenceforth  be  appointed  by  the 
crown,  and  hold  office  only  during  the  royal  pleas- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


103 


ure.  The  third  provided  for  the  riots  that  were  ex¬ 
pected,  and  for  the  probable  killing  of  some  colo¬ 
nists.  It  provided  that  if  any  person  should  be  in¬ 
dicted  for  murder  or  other  capital  offence,  for  any¬ 
thing  he  might  do  while  aiding  the  royal  magistrates, 
the  governor  might  send  him  to  be  tried  and  ac¬ 
quitted  in  some  other  colony,  or  in  England,  instead 
of  leaving  him  to  be  convicted  and  hanged  in  Massa¬ 
chusetts. 

Before  even  the  first  of  these  laws  could  go  into 
effect,  they  had  accomplished  marvellous  results. 
The  Boston  Port  Bill  was  to  strike  its  revengeful 
blow  upon  the  first  day  of  June,  and  when  the  Vir¬ 
ginia  House  of  Burgesses  assembled  in  May,  its 
members  had  not  yet  received  news  of  the  passage 
of  the  act.  The  colonial  aristocracy  had  become 
reconciled  to  Lord  Dunmore,  and  had  planned  a 
series  of  entertainments  in  honor  of  him  and  his 
family.  Washington  dined  with  his  lordship  on  ar¬ 
riving,  and  there  was  to  be  a  grand  ball  given  to 
Lady  Dunmore  upon  the  27th.  All  things  looked 
uncommonly  well,  and  loyalty  was  warming  itself 
after  a  long  chill. 

Right  into  this  May-day  state  of  feeling  came 
a  letter,  received  through  the  revolutionary  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Correspondence,  and  read  upon  the  floor 
of  the  House  of  Burgesses,. announcing  the  passage 
by  Parliament  of  the  act  shutting  up  the  port  of  Bos¬ 
ton.  Every  Virginian  that  heard  it  felt  that  he  was 
somehow  or  other  a  Bostonian  by  virtue  of  that  act 
of  Parliament,  and  did  not  hesitate  one  moment  in 
the  expression  of  his  feelings.  A  protest  against 


104 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


this  and  other  British  tyrannies  was  adopted  and  en¬ 
tered  upon  the  journal  of  the  House,  and  a  resolu¬ 
tion  was  passed  naming  the  1st  of  June  as  a  day  of 
fasting  and  prayer  on  behalf  of  the  liberties  of 
America.  The  other  colonies  generally  named  the 
4th  of  June,  as  that  was  the  day  set  for  shutting  up 
Boston. 

There  could  be  but  one  course  for  a  royal  gov¬ 
ernor  to  pursue,  and  Lord  Dunmore  promptly  dis¬ 
solved  the  assembly.  Their  personal  liking  for  him 
remained,  and  they  did  not  give  up  Lady  Dun- 
more’s  ball,  in  its  order.  They  now  adjourned, 
however,  to  what  was  known  as  “  the  long  room  of 
the  old  Raleigh  tavern,”  and  spoke  and  voted  to 
suit  themselves.  They  passed  a  number  of  resolu¬ 
tions  full  of  fiery  patriotism,  among  which  was  one 
declaring  the  expediency  of  summoning  a  General 
Congress  of  deputies  from  all  the  colonies  to  hold 
annual  sessions  at  such  place  as  might  be  chosen. 
Massachusetts  adopted  a  like  resolution  at  the  same 
time  ;  the  other  colonies  followed,  and  November 
5th  was  fixed  as  the  day  upon  which  the  first  Con¬ 
gress  should  meet  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  minutely  the  course 
of  political  events,  but  when,  in  August,  the  Vir¬ 
ginia  Convention  met  at  Williamsburg  to  choose 
delegates  to  Congress,  and  for  other  patriotic  busi¬ 
ness,  Washington  was  there.  In  presenting  a  series 
of  energetic  resolutions,  he  is  said  to  have  displayed 
notable  eloquence.  Perhaps  the  most  telling  point 
of  his  address  was  his  declaration  that  he  was  ready 
to  raise  a  thousand  men  at  his  own  expense,  and 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


105 


march  at  their  head  to  the  relief  of  Boston.  He  did 
not  have  a  great  while  to  wait  before  being  called 
upon  to  go  to  Boston. 

It  was  a  matter  of  course  that  Virginia  should 
send  George  Washington  as  one  of  her  delegates  to 
Congress,  and  with  him  she  sent  six  other  of  her 
best  men.  The  other  colonies  were  also  admirably 
represented,  and  when  the  reports  of  their  wise,  dig¬ 
nified,  and  patriotic  proceedings  were  published  in 
Europe,  statesmen  declared  that  they  had  no  equal 
on  earth  as  a  legislative  body. 

Congress  met,  as  appointed,  on  the  5th  of  Novem¬ 
ber,  in  Carpenter’s  Hall,  Philadelphia.  The  key¬ 
note  of  their  action  was  sounded  by  Patrick  Henry 
while  they  were  organizing.  Said  he  :  “  The  dis¬ 
tinctions  between  Virginians,  Pennsylvanians,  New 
Yorkers,  and  New  Englanders  are  no  more.  I  am 
not  a  Virginian,  but  an  American.” 

In  the  morning  of  the  day  when  the  first  regular 
session  of  Congress  was  to  be  held,  a  rumor  came 
that  Boston  had  been  cannonaded  by  the  British, 
and  it  gave  an  additional  depth  of  earnest  feeling 
and  solemnity  to  the  occasion.  When  the  hour  ar¬ 
rived,  and  a  clergyman,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Duche,  opened 
the  session  with  prayer,  it  was  noted  that  while  the 
other  delegates  stood  or  sat  as  pleased  them,  George 
Washington  alone  kneeled  upon  the  floor.  There 
were  other  gentlemen  present  whose  religious  views 
and  customs  were  precisely  the  same  as  his  own,  but 
his  feeling  was  too  deep  to  be  expressed  in  any  other 
way. 


1 06  GEORGE  IV A  SHING TON. 

The  sessions  of  Congress  were  held  with  closed 
doors,  and  no  record  was  kept  of  the  proceedings. 
Every  delegate  was  in  peril  of  being  tried  and 
hanged  for  high  treason  against  the  British  crown, 
and  no  evidence  was  preserved  for  the  use  of  any 
prosecuting  attorney.  It  is  said,  however,  that 
after  Mr.  Duche’s  prayer  there  was  a  long  silence, 
as  if  the  importance  of  the  occasion  weighed  upon 
each  man's  tongue.  It  was  death-like,  painful,  and 
at  last  Patrick  Henry  arose.  He  faltered  at  first  a 
little,  but  the  long  story  of  colonial  wrongs  and 
British  tyrannies  was  warming  up  within  him,  and 
he  soon  burst  forth  into  a  tide  of  eloquent  recital 
that  aroused  his  hearers  even  to  astonishment. 
Others  followed,  and  then  the  men  of  business  and 
not  of  eloquence  took  hold  of  their  work,  and  did  it 
wonderfully  well.  When  all  was  over,  and  Congress 
had  adjourned,  somebody  asked  Patrick  Henry 
whom  he  considered  the  greatest  man  in  it.  He 
replied  :  ‘‘If  you  speak  of  eloquence,  Mr.  Rut¬ 
ledge,  of  South  Carolina,  is  by  far  the  greatest 
orator  ;  but  if  you  speak  of  solid  information  and 
sound  judgment,  Colonel  Washington  is  unques¬ 
tionably  the  greatest  man  upon  that  floor." 

Congress  remained  in  session  fifty-one  days. 
Their  first  act  was  a  resolution  declaring  the  deter¬ 
mination  of  the  colonies  to  combine  in  resisting  any 
attempt  to  enforce  the  acts  of  Parliament  violating 
the  rights  of  the  people  of  Massachusetts.  They 
adopted  a  “  Declaration  of  Colonial  Rights,"  in 
which  they  fully  set  forth  all  the  questions  at  issue 


GE  OR  GE  WA  SHI NG  TON.  I  o  7 

between  America  and  the  mother  country,  and 
again  declared  the  impossibility  of  submission. 
They  announced,  however,  the  following  peaceable 
measures  : 

1st.  To  enter  into  a  non-importation,  non-con¬ 
sumption,  and  non-exportation  agreement  or  asso¬ 
ciation. 

2d.  To  prepare  an  address  to  the  people  of  Great 
Britain,  and  a  memorial  to  the  inhabitants  of  British 
America. 

3d.  To  prepare  a  loyal  address  to  His  Majesty. 

It  was  all  very  moderate  and  loyal  in  appearance 
and  expression,  but  letters  written  by  Washington 
after  his  return  to  Mount  Vernon  show  that  he  and 
all  his  fellow-members  expected  bloodshed.  His 
brother,  John  Augustine,  was  raising  and  drilling 
an  independent  company,  and  another  was  forming 
in  Richmond.  To  both  he  made  the  same  offer — - 
that  he  would  take  command  of  them  if  occasion 
should  call  them  out.  He  wrote  to  his  brother  : 
“  It  is  my  full  intention,  if  needful,  to  devote  my 
life  and  fortune  to  the  cause.” 

In  the  month  of  March  following,  when  the  sec¬ 
ond  Virginia  Convention  met  at  Richmond,  Patrick 
Henry  delivered  his  well-known  speech,  in  which  he 
summed  up  the  entire  situation  thus  :  ”  It  is  useless 
to  address  further  petitions  to  Government,  or  to 
await  the  effect  of  those  already  addressed  to  the 
throne.  The  time  for  supplication  is  past  ;  the 
time  for  action  is  at  hand.  We  must  fight,  Mr. 
Speaker  !  I  repeat  it,  sir,  we  must  fight !  An  ap- 


io8 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


peal  to  arms  and  to  the  God  of  Hosts  is  all  that  is 
left  us.  ” 

There  could  be  no  question  as  to  the  soundness  of 
his  declaration,  for  the  “  Government  ”  was  Lord 
North,  and  **  the  throne  ”  was  King  George  the 
Third. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


A  Ministry  Gone  Crazy. — The  Battle  of  Lexmgt  on. — 
How  the  Comitry  A  rose.  —  Ticonderoga. — The  Siege 
of  Boston.  —  The  Federal  Union . — Commander -in- 
Chief. — Bmiker  Hill . 

The  King  of  England,  his  ministers,  the  Parlia¬ 
ment,  and  all  the  people  of  Great  Britain  were  kept 
well  informed  of  the  state  of  public  feeling  in 
America.  Lord  Chatham,  Edmund  Burke,  and 
other  statesmen,  with  a  strong  political  following, 
strove  in  vain  to  obtain  justice  for  the  colonies, 
while  the  men  in  power  madly  laughed  aside  all 
prophecies  of  trouble  to  come.  It  was  openly  as¬ 
serted  in  the  House  of  Commons,  by  a  member 
named  Colonel  Grant,  who  had  served  in  Braddock’s 
campaign  without  any  credit  to  himself,  that  with 
five  regiments  of  regular  troops  he  could  march 
through  all  America.  British  arrogance  accepted 
the  idea  and  scoffed  at  the  possibility  of  effective 
armed  resistance  to  their  invincible  armies  by  levies 
of  inferior  beings  born  on  the  other  side  of  the  At¬ 
lantic. 

Their  boasts  and  taunts  and  insulting  bravado 
were  duly  sent  over  to  circulate  from  fireside  to  fire¬ 
side,  and  stir  the  blood  of  men  who  had  fought 
elbow  to  elbow  with  British  regulars,  and  knew  that 


I  IO 


GE  O  R  GE  IV A  SUING  TON. 


an  American  rifleman  was  worth  just  as  much, 
against  either  Frenchmen  or  Indians. 

Washington  was  of  that  number.  He  had  seen 
enough  to  justify  him  in  believing  that  he  could  face 
the  best  troops  of  England  with  such  men  as  he  had 
rallied  to  save  the  broken  fragments  of  General 
Braddock’s  beaten  army. 

It  was  believed  by  the  British  ministry  that  Gen¬ 
eral  Gage,  with  four  thousand  men,  was  amply  able 
to  garrison  Boston  and  overawe  Massachusetts.  He 
was  supported  by  a  strong  fleet  in  the  harbor,  and 
the  colony  had  no  efficient  military  system  of  its 
own,  nor  arms,  nor  ammunition.  There  were  mod¬ 
erate  deposits  of  military  stores  here  and  there,  and 
it  was  in  an  effort  to  obtain  possession  of  these,  at 
last,  that  General  Gage  brought  matters  to  a  crisis. 
The  second  Congress  was  to  meet  at  Philadelphia  in 
May,  and  it  almost  looked  as  if  General  Gage  had 
undertaken  to  cut  out  their  work  for  them  before¬ 
hand.  He  determined  to  seize  the  colonial  maga¬ 
zine  of  military  stores  at  Concord,  twenty  miles 
from  Boston,  and  fixed  upon  the  night  of  the  18th 
of  April,  1775,  to  do  it  in.  All  preparations  were 
made  with  great  secrecy,  and  on  the  evening  of  the 
1 8th  guards  were  stationed  upon  all  roads  leading 
out  of  Boston  to  prevent  any  one  from  leaving  the 
town  with  news  of  military  movements.  No  guard 
was  stationed  in  the  old  North  Church  steeple,  how¬ 
ever,  and  a  pair  of  lanterns  hung  there  by  order  of 
General  Joseph  Warren  gave  notice  to  Paul  Revere, 
beyond  the  British  lines,  that  the  expedition  had  set 
out.  It  consisted  of  between  eight  and  nine  hun- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


hi 


dred  men — grenadiers,  light  infantry,  and  marines — 
under  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Smith  ;  and 
their  gathering,  with  that  of  the  boats  in  which  they 
were  to  cross  the  bay,  had  been  keenly  watched  and 
noted.  It  required  a  re-enforcement  of  a  thousand 
men,  under  Lord  Percy,  with  two  field-pieces,  to 
bring  the  remnants  of  them  back  again. 

Paul  Revere  had  ridden  well  that  night,  and  the 
alarm  he  had  given  had  gone  far  and  wide  by  other 
messengers.  As  Colonel  Smith  and  his  men  marched 
on  along  the  shadowy  roads  they  heard,  in  all  direc¬ 
tions,  the  clang  of  village  church  bells  and  the  roar 
of  alarm  guns,  telling  that  the  Massachusetts  men 
were  rising.  He  sent  back  at  once  for  help,  but 
pushed  on,  hurrying  Major  Pitcairn  ahead,  with  six 
companies,  to  secure  the  bridges  at  Concord.  The 
news  of  their  coming  rode  fast  ahead  of  them,  and 
on  the  village  green  at  Lexington  fourscore  of 
“  minute-men”  had  met,  equipped  for  duty,  when 
the  glittering  column  of  regulars  came  down  the 
road.  They  were  a  mere  handful  of  the  kind  of 
men  who  were  expected  to  run  away  at  sight  of  a 
British  uniform. 

Major  Pitcairn  halted  his  men,  and  ordered  them 
to  load  and  prime.  They  then  advanced  at  a 
“  double-quick,”  the  major  riding  ahead  and  shout¬ 
ing  :  “  Disperse,  ye  villains  .!  Lay  down  your  arms, 
ye  rebels,  and  disperse  !” 

There  is  a  useless  question  raised  as  to  who  fired 
first  after  that  order  was  given  and  disobeyed,  but 
firing  began  ;  the  outnumbered  militia  lost  eight 
men  killed  and  ten  wounded,  and  were  scattered. 


I  12 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


The  British  had  lost  nothing,  and  they  cheered  and 
fired  a  salute,  as  if  they  had  won  a  victory  ;  but  the 
war  of  the  American  Revolution  had  begun.  The 
dead  and  wounded  patriots  lying  in  front  of  the 
church  at  Lexington  had  sealed  with  their  blood  a 
Declaration  of  Independence  that  was  from  that 
hour  sure  to  be  written. 

The  remainder  of  the  story  of  the  battle  of  Lex¬ 
ington  is  a  familiar  one.  Every  American  knows  it 
by  heart — how  the  British  column  pushed  on  to 
Concord  only  to  find  that  the  military  stores  had 
been,  for  the  greater  part,  removed,  and  how  the 
angry  farmers  closed  around  them  and  drove  them 
back  to  Boston  ;  how  the  British  soldiery,  exas¬ 
perated  by  defeat,  plundered  and  burned  houses, 
and  murdered  quiet  people  along  the  way.  It  was 
a  running  fight  rather  than  a  battle,  but  the  British 
loss  was  73  killed,  among  whom  were  18  officers,  174 
wounded,  and  26  missing.  The  militia  had  lost  49 
killed,  39  wounded,  and  5  missing. 

General  Gage  had  acted  under  instructions  from 
the  British  ministry,  having  in  view  a  compulsory 
disarmament  of  the  colonies.  Precisely  similar  in¬ 
structions  had  been  sent  to  other  royal  governors, 
and  Lord  Dunmore,  of  Virginia,  undertook  to  obey 
them  only  a  few  days  later.  He  seized  the  colonial 
munitions  of  war,  but  it  was  only  to  let  go  of  them. 
He  had  no  four  thousand  men  to  support  him,  as 
Gage  had,  and  the  Old  Dominion  took  fire  as  quickly 
as  did  Massachusetts.  General  Hugh  Mercer  alone 
gathered  seven  hundred  riflemen  at  Fredericksburg, 
and  was  about  to  march  upon  Williamsburg  when  his 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  1 13 

lordship  yielded.  Just  as  the  Virginians  were  get¬ 
ting  back  their  own  powder,  news  came  of  the  blood¬ 
shed  at  Lexington,  and  all  the  hot  blood  in  the 
colony  arose  to  the  boiling  point.  Washington  was 
at  Mount  Vernon,  preparing  to  set  out  for  Philadel¬ 
phia  as  a  delegate  to  the  second  Congress,  when  the 
tidings  reached  him.  With  him  were  his  friend  and 
neighbor,  Bryan  Fairfax,  and  Major  Horatio  Gates, 
for  whom  also  he  had  a  high  esteem.  It  is  well  to 
record  that  Washington  was  deeply  depressed,  fore¬ 
seeing  the  terrible  days  to  come.  In  a  letter  to 
George  William  Fairfax,  then  in  England,  he  put 
the  entire  blame  of  “this  deplorable  affair”  upon 
the  British  ministry,  but  plainly  declared  his  own 
inevitable  course  of  action. 

The  news  of  Lexington  went  fast  and  far,  and  at 
the  North  it  gathered  an  army  to  besiege  the  British 
troops  in  Boston.  John  Stark  heard  it  among  the 
New  Hampshire  hills,  and  within  ten  minutes  he  was 
in  the  saddle,  spurring  away  to  arouse  the  hardy 
backwoodsmen  of  the  border.  Israel  Putnam  was 
in  the  field  with  his  son  when  a  man  came  by  on 
horseback,  beating  a  drum  and  shouting  the  story 
of  Lexington.  A  horse  was  taken  from  the  plough, 
the  boy  was  sent  to  the  house  to  tell  of  his  father’s 
departure,  and  the  old  Indian-fighter  galloped  away 
at  full  speed  to  join  the  gathering  freemen  in  the 
camps  around  Boston.  By  the  time  he  got  there 
he  was  in  command  of  a  regiment,  for  other  men 
were  as  prompt  and  zealous  as  himself.  It  was 
deemed  necessary  to  raise  thirty  thousand  men  at 
once,  and  Massachusetts  alone  offered  thirteen  thou- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


114 

sand  six  hundred  ;  and  those  of  New  Hampshire, 
Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut  came  pouring  in  to 
help  them. 

The  forces  besieging  Boston  were  under  the  com¬ 
mand  of  General  Artemus  Ward,  of  Massachusetts. 
He  was  a  veteran  of  the  French  and  Indian  wars, 
but  was  not  supposed  to  possess  high  qualities  as  a 
leader  of  men.  He  could  do  little  more  than 
blockade  the  town  at  first  for  lack  of  cannon  and 
ammunition,  but  there  was  no  danger  that  Gage 
would  march  out  against  him  after  the  Lexington 
lesson. 

Another  lesson  upon  American  daring  was  ready 
for  the  British  ministry.  The  gateway  between  New 
York  and  Canada,  through  Lake  Champlain,  had 
been  too  often  fought  for  to  be  overlooked.  It  was 
attended  to  at  once  by  Benedict  Arnold,  from  Con¬ 
necticut,  and  Ethan  Allen,  from  the  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  Grants.  Allen  was  in  command.  On  the 
9th  of  May  they  surprised  and  captured  Fort  Ticon- 
deroga,  and  on  the  12th,  Crown  Point.  A  hundred 
serviceable  cannon  and  a  large  supply  of  munitions 
of  war  were  won  by  this  daring  expedition. 

The  second  General  Congress  assembled  at  Phila¬ 
delphia  upon  the  10th  of  May,  and  Peyton  Ran¬ 
dolph,  of  Virginia,  was  re-elected  as  its  president. 
He  was  compelled,  however,  to  return  to  Virginia 
to  act  as  Speaker  of  the  Assembly  ;  and  John  Han¬ 
cock,  of  Massachusetts,  was  chosen  to  succeed  him. 

There  was  yet  a  strange  feeling  of  hesitation  in 
the  minds  of  some  of  even  the  most  patriotic  men. 
The  idea  of  cutting  entirely  loose  from  Great  Britain, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


"5 

and  ceasing  to  be  Englishmen,  made  them  shiver  a 
little.  To  accommodate  the  views  of  all  who  needed 
more  battles  to  bring  them  up  to  the  right  level, 
Congress  adopted,  in  spite  of  strong  opposition  from 
its  hotter  spirits,  a  “  humble  and  dutiful  petition  ” 
to  King  George  the  Third.  As  soon  as  that  mockery 
was  disposed  of,  they  went  right  along  to  provide  for 
the  destruction  of  the  King’s  armies,  the  capture  of 
his  forts,  the  entire  abolition  of  his  authority  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic  ;  and  they  did  their  work  well. 

A  federal  union  was  at  once  formed,  preserving  to 
the  several  colonies  the  management  of  their  inter¬ 
nal  affairs,  but  vesting  in  the  General  Congress  the 
declaration  of  peace  or  war,  the  control  of  com¬ 
merce,  the  making  of  treaties  with  foreign  powers, 
and  the  general  direction  of  public  affairs.  The 
executive  power  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  council 
of  twelve,  to  be  chosen  by  Congress  from  among  its 
own  members,  and  to  hold  office  for  a  limited  time. 
When  all  this  was  done,  it  would  have  required  care¬ 
ful  seeking  to  discover  what  remnant  of  authority 
was  left  to  the  King  and  Parliament  of  Great  Britain. 

Congress  at  once  provided  for  an  army  of  twenty 
thousand  men,  and  for  the  construction  of  forts  in 
several  places.  They  also  ordered  the  issue  of  three 
millions  of  dollars  of  paper  money,  for  the  redemp¬ 
tion  of  which  they  pledged  the  faith  of  the  new 
federation. 

The  petition  to  the  King  sounds  almost  like 
a  piece  of  hypocrisy  when  read  together  with  the 
next  act  of  Congress.  After  prohibiting,  already, 
all  supplies  of  provisions  to  the  British  Canadian 


n6  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

fisheries,  lest  otherwise  they  should  provision  British 
men-of-war,  they  declared  the  colony  of  Massachu- 
setts  absolved  from  its  compact  with  the  British 
crown,  and  advised  it  to  set  up  for  itself. 

George  Washington  was  chairman  of  all  the  com¬ 
mittees  appointed  upon  military  affairs.  Most  of  the 
measures  for  public  defence  and  for  the  organization 
of  the  army  are  said  to  have  been  devised  by  him. 
He  was  conceded  to  be  the  foremost  soldier  of  the 
country,  and  his  undisputed  position  helped  Con¬ 
gress  out  of  a  great  legislative  difficulty.  The 
problem  before  them  was  this  :  the  army  besieging 
Boston  had  not  been  raised  by  Congress,  and  was 
not  under  their  control  unless  it  should  elect  so  to 
be.  It  must  be  provided  with  provisions  and  ammu¬ 
nition,  or  it  would  surely  soon  disperse.  The  British 
army  in  Boston  would  then  sally  out  into  the  coun¬ 
try,  and  there  was  no  telling  what  mischief  they 
might  do.  The  men  would  also  surely  be  discon¬ 
tented  with  any  other  commander  than  one  whose 
name  should  meet  with  their  thorough  approval. 

There  were  members  of  Congress  who  had  candi¬ 
dates  of  their  own  for  the  post  of  commander-in¬ 
chief  of  the  colonial  armies.  There  were  colonial 
prides  and  jealousies  to  be  considered  and  overcome. 
Even  so  sincere  a  patriot  as  John  Hancock  had  a 
strong  ambition  for  it,  and  was  bitterly  disappointed 
when  he  was  not  chosen.  He  had  deserved  well  of 
his  country,  but  the  men  in  the  camps  knew  nothing 
of  him  as  a  soldier,  and  his  name  would  not  give 
confidence  to  those  who  were  yet  to  be  called  out. 

The  question  was  first  brought  before  Congress  by 


GEORGE  IV A  SHING  TON.  1 1 7 

John  Adams,  of  Massachusetts  ;  but  when,  in  stat¬ 
ing  the  difficulties  of  the  case,  he  mentioned  the 
name  of  George  Washington,  of  Virginia,  that  gen¬ 
tleman  at  once  retired  from  the  chamber.  After 
some  debate,  the  decision  of  the  matter  was  post¬ 
poned  for  several  days;  but  on  the  15th  of  June, 
after  adopting  an  entire  plan  for  the  army,  a  ballot 
was  taken  for  commander-in-chief.  Every  man’s 
mind  had  become  settled,  and  Washington  was 
chosen  unanimously.  Rising  in  his  place,  he  ac¬ 
cepted  the  appointment  in  a  brief  speech,  full  of  de¬ 
votion  to  the  cause,  but  declined  the  pay  of  five 
hundred  dollars  a  month.  He  preferred  to  serve  at 
his  own  cost,  except  as  to  purely  military  expenses. 
He  did  not  actually  receive  his  commission  until  the 
20th  of  June,  and  during  those  few  days  of  waiting, 
the  queer  army  he  was  to  command  had  done  some 
grand  fighting  on  its  own  account,  and  without  any 
commander-in-chief.  It  was  nominally  under  Gen¬ 
eral  Artemus  Ward,  commander  of  the  Massachu¬ 
setts  men,  and  actually  followed  his  instructions 
reasonably  well.  The  Connecticut  men,  however, 
were  under  no  legal  obligation  to  take  orders  from 
anybody  but  old  Israel  Putnam  ;  the  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  men  were  responsible  only  to  John  Stark,  and 
the  Rhode  Island  men  obeyed  Nathaniel  Greene. 
Such  supplies  as  they  had  came  to  all  of  them  from 
home,  and  uniforms  had  not  yet  come,  nor  disci¬ 
pline.  They  were  now  about  fifteen  thousand  in 
number,  but  when  General  Burgoyne  arrived  in  Bos¬ 
ton  with  re-enforcements,  he  was  entirely  justified  in 
expressing  his  astonishment  that  such  a  mob  of 


1 1 8  .  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

“  peasants  ”  should  be  permitted  to  pen  up  several 
thousand  regular  troops.  Gage  had  learned  the  rea¬ 
son  all  along  the  Lexington  road.  The  newly-ar¬ 
rived  British  generals  and  soldiers  were  to  learn  it 
on  the  bloody  slope  of  Breed’s  Hill. 

The  British  fleet,  wfth  transports,  entered  Boston 
Harbor  on  the  25th  of  May,  bringing  Generals  Howe, 
Burgoyne,  and  Henry  Clinton,  and  several  fresh  regi¬ 
ments.  The  British  force  now  amounted  to  between 
ten  and  twelve  thousand  men,  and  should  have  been 
able  to  sweep  the  colonial  forces  from  the  face  of  the 
earth,  according  to  the  opinions  prevailing  in  Eng¬ 
land.  No  such  opinion  prevailed  in  the  American 
camp,  where  all  the  “  peasants  ”  were  eager  for  a 
brush  with  the  “  red  coats.”  It  was  almost  neces¬ 
sary  to  give  them  something  to  do.  The  city  of 
Boston  stands  upon  a  peninsula  that  was  connected 
in  those  days  with  the  mainland  only  by  Boston 
Neck.  Except  at  that  point,  strongly  held  by  the 
British,  the  salt  water  protected  the  city,  for  the 
ships  of  war  swept  every  square  foot  of  it  with  their 
guns.  Opposite  Boston,  on  the  north,  was  a  similar 
peninsula,  and  upon  it  stood  the  large  village  of 
Charlestown.  In  the  middle  of  this  peninsula  rises 
Breed’s  Hill,  within  cannon-shot  of  the  city,  and  be¬ 
hind  it,  at  a  greater  distance,  is  the  higher  emi¬ 
nence  of  Bunker  Hill.  The  council  of  war  which 
decided  to  fortify  Bunker  Hill  and  hold  it  wisely 
refused  to  go  on  as  far  as  Breed’s.  It  was  deter¬ 
mined  to  seize  and  fortify  Dorchester  Heights,  south 
of  Boston,  at  the  same  time,  mainly  because  it  was 
reported  that  Gage  himself  was  about  to  do  it. 


GE  OR  GE  WA  SHING  TON.  1 1 9 

Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  troops,  less  than 
fifteen  hundred  in  all,  were  drafted  for  the  first  ser¬ 
vice,  and  Colonel  William  Prescott,  of  Peppered,  in 
command  of  them,  received  written  orders  to  fortify 
Bunker  Hill  and  hold  it  until  he  should  be  relieved. 
By  what  mistake  he  pushed  on  to  Breed’s  is  not  now 
known  ;  but  all  men  in  that  day  were  going  further 
than  they  intended  on  setting  out. 

At  dawn  of  day  the  sailors  on  board  of  the  British 
war-ships  saw  a  redoubt  and  a  breastwork  on  the 
crest  of  Breed’s  Hill,  and  busy  men  with  shovels 
hard  at  work  extending  the  line  of  the  entrench¬ 
ments.  A  heavy  cannonade  was  opened  at  once, 
but  it  did  little  harm,  and  the  work  went  on.  The 
British  generals  in  Boston  looked  at  this  exhibition 
of  colonial  daring  with  astonishment.  If  cannon 
should  actually  be  planted  upon  Breed’s  Hill,  they 
said,  we  could  not  hold  Boston.  The  better  judg¬ 
ment  among  them  was  in  favor  of  an  attack  in  the 
rear  by  way  of  Charlestown  Neck,  but  once  more  ar¬ 
rogance  took  the  lead.  Colonial  militia  would  never 
face  a  storming  column  of  regular  troops.  Such  a 
column  was,  therefore,  sent,  under  Major-General 
Howe,  to  take  the  works  in  front.  It  was  a  splen¬ 
did  body  of  men,  well  led,  as  were  also  the  re-enforce¬ 
ments  sent  to  it,  increasing  it  to  three  thousand 
men.  Every  ship  of  war  that  could  bring  a  gun  to 
bear  upon  Breed’s  Hill  or  the  Neck  was  soon  hard  at 
work.  A  thorough  and  searching  test  was  provided 
of  a  question  still  troubling  the  mind  of  Washington, 
as  to  the  qualities  of  raw  troops  under  a  heavy  fire. 
He  was  answered  by  the  blood-stirring  record  of 


120 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


what  is  known  to  this  day  as  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill.  The  British  regulars,  twice  repulsed,  at  last 
carried  the  works,  for  the  sole  reason  that  the 
Americans  had  used  up  their  ammunition  and  had 
no  bayonets  to  fight  with.  Each  side  lost  in  killed 
and  wounded  about  a  third  of  the  men  it  took  into 
action — 1054  for  the  British  and  450  for  the  Ameri¬ 
cans.  It  was  a  nominal  defeat,  which  left  the  colo¬ 
nial  forces  all  the  real  effect  of  a  great  victory.  The 
loss  of  even  so  honored  a  patriot  as  General  Joseph 
Warren  did  but  stir  more  deeply  the  hearts  of  all 
his  countrymen. 

General  Washington  received  his  commission  on 
the  20th  of  June,  and  he  was  ready  to  depart  at 
once.  He  wrote  affectionate  letters  to  his  wife  and 
brother,  full  of  the  purest  and  most  unselfish  patriot¬ 
ism.  He  rode  out  to  review  several  militia  com¬ 
panies  of  horse  and  foot,  and  the  people  everywhere 
thronged  to  cheer  the  new  commander-in-chief  of 
the  American  armies.  He  was  forty-three  years  of 
age,  stately,  vigorous,  the  beau  ideal  of  a  leader, 
and  all  men  knew  his  romantic,  eventful  history. 
He  was  the  one  man  in  all  the  colonies  whose  ap¬ 
pointment  was  sure  to  be  accepted  by  every  soldier. 
Local  jealousies  and  colonial  lines  could  have  noth¬ 
ing  to  do  with  the  readiness  of  men  to  serve  under 
George  Washington.  On  the  next  day  he  set  out 
for  Boston  accompanied  by  Major  Generals  Schuy¬ 
ler  and  Lee,  and  a  mounted  “  gentleman  troop  ”  of 
Philadelphians,  under  Captain  Markoe.  Hardly  had 
this  unusually  brilliant  cavalcade  ridden  twenty  miles 
from  Philadelphia  when  they  were  met  by  a  courier, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


I  2  I 


spurring  along  the  road  with  dispatches  from  the 
army  for  Congress.  He  bore  the  tremendous  tid¬ 
ings  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

General  Washington  questioned  the  courier  care¬ 
fully  as  to  all  the  features  of  the  fight,  and  particu¬ 
larly  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  militia  under  fire. 
When  its  cool  firmness  and  steady  determination 
were  set  forth  to  him,  it  seemed  as  if  his  greatest 
burden  were  lifted,  and  he  exclaimed  aloud  :  “  The 
liberties  of  the  country  are  safe.” 


CHAPTER  XII. 


New  York  Patriotism.  —  Tories  and  Indians. —  Wash¬ 
ington  in  the  Boston  Camps. — Organization  of  the 

Army. — No  Powder  to  Fight  with. 

Of  the  two  major-generals  who  accompanied 
Washington  on  his  journey  to  Boston,  General  Lee 
was  the  better  known.  He  was  a  soldier  of  fortune, 
experienced  in  many  wars,  having  served  both  in 
Europe  and  America.  His  good  qualities  and  those 
which  were  not  so  good  were  only  too  well  balanced. 
General  Schuyler  was  a  higher  and  better  character, 
nobly  representing  the  most  sterling  patriotism  of 
the  important  colony  of  New  York. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  sincere  patriotism  among 
the  New  Yorkers.  The  old  Dutch  colony  element 
was  peculiarly  ready  to  join  a  movement  against  the 
British  .crown.  At  the  same  time,  the  great  aris¬ 
tocratic  families  of  English  origin  were  intensely  and 
all  but  fanatically  “  loyalist/’  and  remained  so  to 
the  end.  The  Six  Nations  still  held  the  interior  and 
northern  part  of  the  colonial  territory,  unbroken  in 
numbers  and  power.  The  Schuyler  family  had  some 
influence  among  them,  but  it  was  overshadowed  by 
that  of  the  Johnson  family.  Old  Sir  William  John¬ 
son,  who  had  been  all  but  king  of  the  Iroquois,  died 
in  1774  of  an  attack  of  apoplexy  said  to  have  been 
caused  by  political  excitement.  His  son,  Sir  John 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


123 


Johnson,  inherited  much  of  his  influence  over  the 
Indians,  and  it  was  also  shared  by  his  sons-in-law, 
Colonel  Guy  Johnson  and  Colonel  Claus.  All  three 
were  bitter  and  unscrupulous  supporters  of  British 
rule  in  America.  They  were  to  be  a  thorn  in  the 
side  of  the  struggling  colonies,  and  were  even  now 
gathering  their  savage  retainers,  with  some  white 
ones  hardly  less  savage.  They  were  arming  and 
fortifying  their  strongly-built  residences,  and  had 
done  much  to  overawe  expressions  of  patriotism 
throughout  the  Mohawk  River  country  and  upper 
Hudson.  Governor  Tryon,  of  New  York,  was  an 
extreme  royalist,  having  been  to  England  to  report 
the  condition  of  affairs  and  obtain  instructions.  The 
provincial  Congress  of  New  York  was  in  session  in 
the  city  itself,  and  was  thrown  into  a  fever  of  per¬ 
plexity  by  the  approach  of  General  Washington  and 
his  body-guard.  Matters  were  made  worse  for  them 
by  the  presence  of  British  armed  vessels  in  the  har¬ 
bor,  and  by  the  fact  that  Governor  Tryon’s  return 
was  expected  at  any  day  or  hour. 

The  New  York  Congress  had  acted  with  a  fair 
degree  of  patriotism,  and  was  to  do  better  in  future. 
At  present  it  behaved  somewhat  undecidedly.  It 
ordered  out  a  regiment  of  militia,  and  instructed  its 
colonel  to  receive  with  military  honors  whichever  of 
the  two  great  men  should  arrive  first.  At  the  same 
time  it  sent  a  committee  to  meet  Washington  at 
Newark,  and  conduct  him  to  the  city.  By  the  time 
the  committee  reached  Newark  the  ship  bringing 
Tryon  was  in  the  harbor,  and  he  was  expected  to  be 
on  shore  soon.  The  general  met  the  committee  and 


124 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


came  on  with  them,  reaching  the  city  several  hours 
before  the  governor  did.  He  received  the  military 
honors,  and  with  them  a  congratulatory  address  by 
Peter  Van  Burgh  Livingston,  President  of  the  New 
York  Congress.  This  address  closed  in  a  manner 
that  plainly  declared  how  imperfectly  many  excel¬ 
lent  men  understood  the  meaning  of  the  fighting  on 
the  slope  of  Breed’s  Hill.  He  said  :  “  Confiding  in 
you,  sir,  and  in  the  worthy  generals  immediately 
under  your  command,  we  have  the  most  flattering 
hopes  of  success  in  the  glorious  struggle  for  Ameri¬ 
can  liberty,  and  the  fullest  assurance  that  whenever 
this  important  contest  shall  be  decided  by  that 
fondest  wish  of  each  American  soul — an  accommo¬ 
dation  with  our  mother  country — you  will  cheerfully 
resign  the  important  deposit  committed  into  your 
hands,  and  reassume  the  character  of  our  worthiest 
citizen.  ” 

That  was  exactly  what  Washington  did  some  years 
later,  for  he  was  an  “  American  soul,”  and  he  fought 
until  he  had  obtained  a  perfect  “  accommodation 
with  the  mother  country.”  Just  now  he  replied,  on 
behalf  of  himself  and  his  generals  : 

“  As  to  the  fatal  but  necessary  operations  of  war, 
when  we  assumed  the  soldier  we  did  not  lay  aside 
the  citizen  ;  and  we  shall  most  sincerely  rejoice  with 
you  in  that  happy  hour  when  the  establishment  of 
American  liberty,  on  the  most  firm  and  solid  foun¬ 
dations,  shall  enable  us  to  return  to  our  private  sta¬ 
tions  in  the  bosom  of  a  free,  peaceful,  and  happy 
country.” 

No  man  knew  better  than  did  Washington  that 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


125 


not  among  those  “  firm  and  solid  foundations” 
could  be  a  renewal  of  the  old  relations  to  the  British 
King  and  Parliament. 

Governor  Tryon  came  ashore  at  eight  o’clock  that 
evening,  and  the  same  militia  regiment  presented 
arms.  The  mayor  and  Common  Council  and  a 
number  of  ultra-royalist  citizens  also  did  him  honor, 
but  his  position  as  governor  of  that  colony  was  likely 
to  be  a  trying  one.  Nobody  knew  what  his  instruc¬ 
tions  might  be  from  the  British  ministry,  while  every 
one  was  aware  that  he  and  the  Johnsons  and  the 
Tories,  conspiring  and  working  together,  had  at  that 
moment  the  power  to  plunge  the  colony  into  all  the 
horrors  of  an  Indian  war,  if  not  to  wrest  it  alto¬ 
gether  from  the  cause  of  American  liberty. 

General  Schuyler  was  left  in  command  at  New 
York  by  Washington,  with  vague  instructions  and 
undetermined  powers.  He  was  to  report  both  to 
the  commander-in-chief  and  to  the  Continental  Con¬ 
gress  as  to  the  condition  of  his  troops  and  supplies. 
He  was  to  closely  watch  the  Johnsons  and  the 
Indians.  Washington  added  :  “If  forcible  meas¬ 
ures  are  judged  necessary  respecting  the  person  of 
the  governor,  I  should  have  no  difficulty  in  order¬ 
ing  them,  if  the  Continental  Congress  were  not  sit¬ 
ting  ;  but  as  that  is  the  case,  and  the  seizing  of  a 
governor  quite  a  new  thing,  I  must  refer  you  to 
that  body  for  direction.”  There  is  a  touch  of  dry 
humor  in  this  that  should  not  be  overlooked.  It  is 
said  that  Washington  never  joked  in  his  life,  but  if 
that  be  true,  he  came  remarkably  near  it  quite  fre¬ 
quently.  At  all  events,  Philip  Schuyler  was  just 


126 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


the  man  to  forget  whether  or  not  Congress  were  in 
session,  if  the  course  of  human  events  should,  in  his 
view,  make  it  necessary  for  him  to  lock  up  Tryon 
to  prevent  a  raid  of  the  Mohawks  or  Senecas. 

At  New  York  Washington  received  full  particu¬ 
lars  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  the  state  of 
things  represented  to  him  made  him  eager  to  join 
the  army.  He  left  New  York  on  the  26th  of  the 
month,  and  pushed  rapidly  forward.  He  was  re¬ 
ceived  at  every  place  with  demonstrations  of  respect, 
and  on  the  2d  of  July  he  arrived  at  Cambridge,  and 
he  took  command  of  the  army  the  next  day.  The 
moment  he  had  done  so  it  passed  under  the  control 
of  the  Continental  Congress. 

America  was  still*  in  the  minds  of  the  great 
majority  of  men,  “Continental  England,”  and  the 
British  soldiery  were  Englishmen  who  came  from 
the  “  island  ”  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
The  idea  of  a  distinct  nationality  was  dawning 
cloudily,  and  in  just  one  year  from  that  time  it  was 
to  take  permanent  form. 

The  new  commander-in-chief  inspected  the  scat¬ 
tered  camps  and  the  ill-disciplined  but  eager  and 
enthusiastic  troops.  He  knew  that  they  would 
surely  expect  of  him  more  than  human  capacity 
could  do.  No  other  man  understood  so  well  as  he 
did  the  tremendous  nature  of  the  duty  placed  upon 
him,  but  he  remarked  of  it  that  “he  trusted  that 
Divine  Providence,  which  wisely  orders  the  affairs 
of  men,  would  enable  him  to  discharge  it  with  fidel¬ 
ity  and  success.  ” 

The  army  besieging  Boston  lay  around  it  in  a 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


127 


roughly  drawn  semicircle  about  nine  miles  long. 
They  had  constructed  rude  works  at  such  points  as 
seemed  to  them  available,  but  with  small  military 
science.  So  many  of  the  men  were  without  suitable 
arms  that  Washington  had  only  about  fourteen 
thousand  men  fit  for  field  duty.  The  British  army 
in  Boston  was  now  eleven  thousand  strong,  well  sup¬ 
plied  with  artillery  and  munitions  of  war.  Should 
the  British  generals  succeed  in  bringing  about  a  gen¬ 
eral  engagement  between  two  such  armies  on  an 
open  battle-field,  there  could  be  no  question  as  to 
the  result.  That  was  the  one  thing  which  the 
watchful  colonial  leaders  had  prevented  them  from 
doing.  Very  unscientifically,  but  very  completely, 
the  soldiers  of  King  George  the  Third  had  been  shut 
up  where  they  could  not  get  out  to  make  their  drill 
and  strategy  effective.  It  is  recorded  that  when 
Washington  inspected  the  camps,  he  was  struck  by 
the  exceptionally  good  appearance  and  soldierly  de¬ 
portment  of  the  Rhode  Island  men,  under  General 
Nathaniel  Greene.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  per¬ 
sonal  friendship  between  the  two  patriots  that  lasted 
to  the  end  of  life. 

The  first  duty  on  hand  was  the  organization  of 
the  military  household  of  the  commander-in-chief, 
and  it  was  made  severely  simple.  The  Massachu¬ 
setts  Congress  at  once  provided  for  him  a  steward, 
a  housekeeper,  and  two  or  three  women  cooks. 
These  were  needed,  for  he  had  several  officers  to 
dine  with  him  every  day,  as  the  best  means  of  get¬ 
ting  acquainted  with  them.  It  was  only  by  personal 
influence,  added  to  carefully  acquired  knowledge, 


128 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


that  he  could  hope  to  accomplish  the  next  important 
work  before  him.  That  was  the  adjustment  of  dis¬ 
putes  and  the  allaying  of  jealousies  as  to  rank  and 
precedence. 

Colonel  Mifflin,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  Washing¬ 
ton’s  first  aide-de-camp,  assisted  by  John  Trumbull, 
son  of  the  patriotic  Governor  of  Connecticut. 
Joseph  Reed,  also  of  Pennsylvania,  acted  as  military 
secretary.  The  latter  gentleman  replied  to  some 
friends  who  expostulated  with  him  for  taking  so 
hazardous  a  position  :  “I  have  no  inclination  to  be 
hanged  for  half-treason.”  He  described  exactly  his 
own  liability  and  that  of  his  chief.  Some  time  be¬ 
fore  this,  when  General  Gage  published  a  proclama¬ 
tion  offering  amnesty  and  pardon  to  the  Massachu¬ 
setts  rebels  if  they  would  repent  and  submit  to  Lord 
North  and  King  George,  he  excepted  John  Hancock 
and  Samuel  Adams,  whose  offences  had  been  such 
as  could  not  be  forgiven.  Nothing  done  by  those 
gentlemen  to  insure  their  conviction  for  treason,  at 
that  time,  would  compare  with  the  present  conduct 
of  Washington  and  his  generals  and  other  officers. 
The  entire  Continental  Congress  behind  them  was 
debating  and  voting,  as  they  were  fighting,  with  a 
fair  prospect  of  confiscation  of  property,  imprison¬ 
ment,  and  death  by  hanging,  in  case  of  defeat.  The 
private  soldiers  were  risking  less,  but  their  com¬ 
mander  knew  that  even  if  he  should  manage  to 
escape  with  his  life,  the  sure  vengeance  of  British 
law  would  leave  him  nothing  else.  Major  Horatio 
Gates  was  one  of  Washington’s  old  personal  friends, 
and  had  received  at  his  suggestion  the  rank  of  ad- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  129 

jutant-general  of  the  army.  He  now  arrived,  and 
entered  upon  the  efficient  discharge  of  his  duty, 
but  for  some  reason  became  steadily  estranged  from 
the  man  to  whom  he  owed  his  appointment. 

The  length  and  weakness  of  the  army  lines  was  a 
trouble  to  a  man  who  saw  how  easily  they  could  be 
broken.  It  was  decided  at  a  council  of  war  that  to 
recede  from  them  would  dispirit  the  troops,  and 
Washington  set  himself  at  work  to  strengthen  them. 
The  men  labored  with  hearty  good-will,  and  the  re¬ 
sults  were  astonishing,  for  they  were  thoroughly  well 
drilled  in  the  use  of  axes  and  spades.  General  Put¬ 
nam,  in  particular,  so  distinguished  himself  in  throw¬ 
ing  up  intrenchments  as  to  receive  the  praise  of  the 
commander-in-chief. 

It  was  determined  to  increase  the  army  to  twenty 
thousand  effective  men,  and  as  soon  as  this  should 
be  done,  and  their  drill  and  organization  raised  to 
a  fair  degree  of  perfection,  Washington  was  very 
willing  that  the  enemy  should  be  enticed  out  of 
Boston  for  a  trial  of  strength,  but  not  until  then. 
He  did  not  intend  to  leave  them  anything  better 
than  a  trap  of  field  works  to  march  into,  but  the 
nature  of  his  own  troops  and  the  continual  deficiency 
of  his  supplies  made  him  doubt  whether  he  could 
hold  his  forces  together  for  a  long  siege.  Among 
the  re-enforcements  he  was  now  receiving  were  about 
fourteen  hundred  men  of  a  sort  well  known  to  the 
hero  of  Fort  Necessity.  They  were  riflemen  from 
the  backwoods  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  company  after  company.  The  captain  of  one 
company  was  Daniel  Morgan,  who  had  been  a 


i3° 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


wagoner  in  Braddock’s  campaign,  and  was  soon  to 
be  heard  of  very  frequently. 

The  troops  were  getting  into  good  shape,  but  there 
were  no  more  of  them  than  were  needed  for  the  siege 
of  Boston,  and  Washington  was  compelled  to  refuse 
all  requests  for  detachments.  British  fleets  were 
cruising  along  the  coast  and  threatening  harm  at 
various  points.  They  even  did  some  at  New  Lon¬ 
don  and  elsewhere,  but  it  was  needful  to  tell  the 
people  at  once  that  such  was  the  way  of  war,  and 
that  the  commander-in-chief  had  no  means  for  the 
protection  of  so  vast  a  country  at  every  point.  He 
was  daily  discovering  how  scanty  and  untrustworthy 
his  resources  were.  At  the  very  moment  when  he 
was  pressing  the  British  at  every  point  and  hoping 
for  the  hour  when  he  might  dare  to  draw  them  out, 
he  discovered  that  he  had  not  enough  powder  to 
fight  with.  All  he  had  on  hand  was  not  enough  to 
furnish  the  army  with  nine  rounds  for  each  musket. 
Washington  had  called  for  a  report  of  the  ammuni¬ 
tion  as  soon  as  he  had  taken  the  command.  The 
Massachusetts  colony  had  originally  collected  three 
hundred  barrels,  and  that  amount  was  gravely  re¬ 
ported,  without  any  mention  of  the  quantities  fired 
away.  Only  thirty-two  barrels  were  actually  on 
hand,  and  Washington’s  eagerness  for  a  battle  was 
all  gone  in  an  instant  when  the  condition  of  his 
stock  of  cartridges  was  truthfully  explained  to  him. 
He  at  once  sent  off  swift  messengers  in  all  direc¬ 
tions,  calling  earnestly  for  powder.  No  small 
amount  of  the  precious  black  dust  was  to  be  de¬ 
spised,  and  he  even  suggested  to  Governor  Cooke, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  13 1 

of  Rhode  Island,  that  an  armed  vessel  might  be  sent 
to  seize  a  magazine  of  powder  upon  one  of  the  Ber¬ 
muda  Islands.  If  the  British  generals  had  known 
that  all  the  ammunition  in  the  American  camp  was 
in  the  cartridge-boxes  of  the  soldiers,  they  would 
surely  have  marched  out  at  once.  Even  after  a 
tardy  supply  arrived  from  New  Jersey,  there  was 
hardly  enough  for  one  day's  hard  fighting,  and  the 
utmost  economy  in  its  use  was  rigidly  enforced.  It 
was  precisely  this  kind  of  deficiency  against  which 
Washington  was  to  contend  through  all  the  years  of 
the  war,  and  this  first  sharp  lesson  did  not  come  any 
too  soon  to  put  him  upon  his  guard  against  evil  con¬ 
sequences. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


General  Gage  and  Mr .  Washington.  —  The  Invasion  of 

Canada . — Sea-Coast  Plundering . — Beginning  of  a 

Navy. — Reorganizing  the  Army. 

General  Washington  had  not  been  many  days 
in  command  of  the  Continental  Army  before  he  was 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  stern  fact  that  if  he 
was  an  Englishman  he  was  also  a  rebel. 

General  Gage  had  served  side  by  side  with  Wash¬ 
ington  in  the  old  French  war,  but  now  he  and  all 
other  officers  of  the  British  army  were  openly  deter¬ 
mined  to  regard  their  opponents  as  outlaws  and 
malefactors.  They  particularly  refused  to  acknowl¬ 
edge  the  military  rank  of  American  officers.  The 
commander-in-chief  of  the  colonial  army  was  to  them 
only  “  Mr.  Washington,”  a  traitor  sure  to  be  hanged 
when  caught. 

Some  American  officers  were  taken  prisoners  by 
the  British  already,  and  were  put  into  jail  as  felons. 
Even  some  of  them  who  were  wounded  were  re¬ 
ported  to  have  received  cruel  treatment.  Washing¬ 
ton’s  blood  was  up,  and  he  wrote  to  General  Gage 
a  spirited  remonstrance.  He  plainly  told  the  British 
commander  that  all  British  officers  in  his  hands,  or 
who  might  afterward  be  captured,  would  be  treated 
exactly  as  were  American  prisoners  in  the  hands  of 
their  enemies. 


—  Engraved  by  Charles  Splegle ,  after  Marshall' s  large  steel  plate 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


T33 


General  Gage,  in  reply,  denied  having  treated  his 
prisoners  with  inhumanity,  but  admitted  that  he 
had  made  no  discrimination  between  officers  and 
men,  not  recognizing  any  man  as  holding  a  commis¬ 
sion  other  than  from  the  King.  He  spoke  of  them 
as  “  rebels  ”  and  as  “  prisoners  whose  lives,  by  the 
law  of  the  land,  are  destined  to  the  cord/’  He  also 
quoted  some  false  reports  of  the  treatment  given 
British  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  Americans. 

The  reply  of  Washington  was  dignified  but  firm, 
and  several  British  officers  hitherto  permitted  their 
freedom  on  parole  were  at  once  gathered  and  locked 
up  in  jail.  They  were  afterward  let  out  again,  as 
soon  as  their  imprisonment  had  emphasized  suffi¬ 
ciently  the  assurance  given  to  General  Gage. 

The  number  of  Americans  whose  “  lives,  by  the 
law  of  the  land,  were  destined  to  the  cord  ”  was 
daily  increasing,  but  so,  it  seemed,  was  the  obstinate 
arrogance  of  the  tyranny  which  had  goaded  and 
driven  them  to  take  up  arms. 

Advices  from  New  York  presented  a  somewhat 
perplexing  state  of  things.  There  was  no  doubt  but 
that  the  Johnsons  were  stirring  up  the  Indians,  but 
no  clear  idea  could  be  obtained  as  to  what  use  was  to 
be  made  of  them.  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point 
remained  in  the  hands  of  their  captors,  but  there 
had  been  a  bitter  dispute  as  to  who  was  entitled  to 
command  them.  This  was  finally  settled  by  the 
fact  that  they  were  within  the  territory  of  New 
York.  The  Green  Mountain  boys  went  home 
triumphantly.  Their  commanders,  Ethan  Allen  and 
Seth  Warner,  visited  the  Continental  Congress  to 


134 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


receive  honors  and  money.  Benedict  Arnold  re¬ 
mained,  planning  expeditions  into  Canada,  until 
Colonel  Hinman,  with  a  Connecticut  regiment, 
came,  at  the  invitation  of  New  York,  to  relieve  him. 
He  furiously  refused  to  serve  under  Hinman,  but 
quickly  a  committee  of  the  Massachusetts  Congress 
arrived  to  inspect  his  accounts  and  inquire  into  his 
conduct,  as  complaints  had  been  made  of  his  vio¬ 
lence  and  assumption.  After  a  stormy  quarrel  he 
found  himself  helpless,  and  set  off  for  Cambridge  to 
answer  such  questions  as  might  be  put  to  him. 

The  Continental  Congress  had  at  first  thought  it 
best  to  let  the  Canadas  alone,  and  had  refused  to 
listen  to  plans  for  their  occupation.  The  temptation 
to  do  something  in  that  direction,  however,  was 
strengthened  by  the  known  weakness  of  the  British 
forces  there,  and  the  certainty  that  more  were  com¬ 
ing.  Washington  ordered  General  Schuyler  to  pro¬ 
ceed  to  Ticonderoga  and  take  command  of  such 
troops  as  were  there  already  or  could  be  gathered 
for  a  northern  campaign.  Schuyler  sent  him  a  dole¬ 
ful  account  of  the  unsoldierly  and  unpromising  ap¬ 
pearance  of  his  command,  and  received  in  return  a 
consolatory  account  of  the  worse  aspect  of  the  troops 
in  the  camps  around  Boston.  He  soon  learned,  how¬ 
ever,  that  the  British  in  Canada  were  even  weaker 
than  had  been  supposed,  and  went  on  with  his 
preparations.  In  the  midst  of  them  he  was  com¬ 
pelled  to  leave  General  Montgomery  in  command 
and  return  to  Albany  to  meet  the  chiefs  of  the 
Caughnawaugas  and  Iroquois  in  a  grand  council. 
There  was,  it  will  be  seen,  a  vast  amount  of  impor- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


135 


tant  work  to  be  done,  and  very  few  capable  and  ex¬ 
perienced  men  to  do  it.  From  every  corner  of  the 
country  puzzled  or  disheartened  or  over-zealous 
patriots  were  sending  to  Washington  for  help  or 
counsel  or  encouragement,  or  to  be  kept  from  doing 
some  kind  of  hasty  mischief. 

The  idea  of  invading  Canada  grew  and  grew,  until 
it  ended  in  the  daring  but  ill-fated  expedition  under 
Arnold  and  Montgomery.  It  finally  perished  in 
the  failure  to  capture  Quebec,  and  all  that  is  now 
British  North  America  continued  to  be  subject  to 
the  British  crown.  It  did  so  simply  because  the 
Canadas  had  no  distinctly  American  population,  and 
did  not  belong  to  the  new  nationality.  There  was 
to  be  quite  enough  of  that  to  provide  for  without 
assuming  one  pound  of  the  great  Canadian  respon¬ 
sibility.  It  was  well  for  the  cause  of  independence 
that  Arnold  and  Montgomery  failed  to  take  Quebec  ; 
but  the  attempt  went  on. 

The  army  before  Boston  was  divided  by  Washing¬ 
ton  into  three  parts.  The  right  wing,  under  General 
Ward,  held  the  Roxbury  Heights.  The  left  wing, 
under  General  Lee,  held  Winter  and  Prospect  Hills. 
The  centre,  under  Generals  Putnam  and  Pleath,  had 
its  headquarters  at  Cambridge. 

The  British  army  lay  behind  their  intrenchments 
and  their  barriers  of  cannon-guarded  salt  water  as  if 
waiting  for  Washington’s  raw  levies  to  get  tired  of 
the  siege  and  go  home.  It  was  weary  work  to  lie  still 
and  watch  them,  and  there  was  good  reason  to  fear 
that  their  policy  was  a  wise  one.  To  keep  so  large 
an  army  together  during  the  coming  winter  promised 


1 36 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


to  be  costly  and  difficult.  Washington  held  a  coun¬ 
cil  of  war,  and  corresponded  with  Congress  with 
reference  to  a  more  active  pressing  of  the  siege  ;  but 
he  was  still  hampered  by  the  considerations  of  can¬ 
non  and  powder.  Nearly  all  that  he  could  do  was 
to  persist  in  turning  his  militia  as  rapidly  as  possible 
into  soldiers.  The  subsequent  operations  of  the  war 
felt  the  effects  of  the  lessons  given  to  officers  and 
men  by  their  commander  during  those  tedious 
months  before  Boston. 

There  was  plenty  of  news  to  keep  the  minds  of 
men  busy.  Incident  after  incident  broke  the 
monotony  of  camp  life.  Dr.  Benjamin  Church,  Sur¬ 
geon-general  of  Massachusetts,  was  detected  in 
sending  cipher  dispatches  full  of  information  to  a 
British  officer  ;  but  it  was  not  yet  time  to  treat  such 
offences  with  utter  severity.  The  doctor  escaped 
the  halter,  and  went  to  jail  instead.  One  of  his  in¬ 
nocent  go-betweens  was  a  fat  woman  living  in  Cam¬ 
bridge,  and  she  is  said  to  have  been  arrested  by 
General  Putnam.  There  was  nothing  formal  or 
stately  about  him.  Washington  saw,  from  his  cham¬ 
ber  window  at  headquarters,  the  burly  general  rid¬ 
ing  up  on  horseback,  with  his  female  prize  mounted 
behind  him.  It  was  an  excellent  thing  for  the  over¬ 
worked  commander-in-chief,  since  it  made  him  laugh 
heartily.  One  of  the  earliest  bits  of  news  from  the 
Canadian  expedition  was  an  account  of  the  manner 
in  which  Ethan  Allen  got  himself  taken  prisoner  in 
a  mad  attempt  to  capture  Montreal.  The  hot¬ 
headed  colonel  was  put  in  irons  and  sent  to  Eng¬ 
land,  and  that  was  serious  enough  for  him  ;  but  there 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


137 


was  much  that  was  genuinely  comic  in  the  grandilo¬ 
quent,  bombastic  letters  he  had  written,  setting  forth 
the  wonders  he  was  about  to  do. 

Here  and  there  the  scattered  colonial  communi¬ 
ties  had  begun  to  show  signs  of  cooling  from  the 
first  fervor  which  had  followed  Lexington  and 
Bunker  Hill,  but  there  was  no  need  of  any  fear  on 
that  account.  The  British  ministry  and  their  gen¬ 
erals  came  promptly  to  the  assistance  of  the  Conti¬ 
nental  Congress  and  of  Washington,  and  stirred  up 
the  general  wrath  to  red  heat  again. 

The  ships  of  the  British  navy  were  sent  cruising 
along  the  coast  to  obtain  supplies  for  the  troops 
shut  up  in  Boston.  Wherever  they  landed  they 
took  what  they  wanted  with  small  ceremony,  and 
all  resistance  or  even  reluctance  was  overcome  by 
violence.  People  at  places  liable  to  these  visita¬ 
tions  sent  their  flocks  and  herds  and  other  provisions 
inland.  Preparations  were  also  made  for  reprisals 
upon  the  British  transports.  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  and  Connecticut  made  a  beginning  of  the 
American  navy  by  each  fitting  out  two  armed  ves¬ 
sels  and  sending  them  to  cruise  for  all  craft  bring¬ 
ing  supplies  to  the  British  army.  These  were  swift 
vessels,  well  manned,  and  went  out  with  strong  hope 
of  capturing  some  gunpowder  for  General  Washing¬ 
ton.  Among  the  ports  whose  people  were  most 
active  in  this  operation  was  Falmouth,  now  Port¬ 
land,  Me.,  and  a  little  before  the  middle  of  October 
a  British  squadron  went  and  destroyed  the  town. 
Three  hundred  and  sixty-seven  buildings  are  said  to 
have  been  burned  to  the  ground,  and  the  homeless 


!38 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


inhabitants  were  informed  that  a  like  fate  was  pre¬ 
paring  for  every  other  rebel  seaport  on  the  Atlantic 
coast  that  should  refuse  to  be  disarmed  and  to  give 
hostages  for  future  good  behavior. 

The  Massachusetts  Congress  at  once  passed  an  act 
for  the  fitting  out  of  more  cruisers,  and  to  grant  let¬ 
ters  of  marque  and  reprisal.  The  crews  of  all  such 
vessels  were  likely  to  be  regarded  as  pirates  by  the 
British  navy,  but  they  put  to  sea,  all  the  same. 

The  news  of  all  this  sea-coast  barbarism  went  in¬ 
land  fast  and  far,  to  settle  the  convictions  of  all  un¬ 
decided  men,  and  to  rouse  lukewarm  people  to  an 
undying  resistance.  At  about  this  time  General 
Gage  was  called  home  to  explain  why  the  affairs  of 
his  army  had  drifted  along  so  badly,  and  Major- 
General  Howe  became  commander-in-chief  of  the 
British  forces  in  America.  A  committee  of  the  Con¬ 
tinental  Congress,  headed  by  Benjamin  Franklin  and 
accompanied  by  other  distinguished  men,  came  to 
confer  with  Washington  as  to  a  reorganization  of  the 
army.  It  was  decided  to  gather  one  of  22,276  men 
and  officers,  and,  for  some  reason  not  now  plain,  to 
enlist  men  for  one  year  only,  so  that  the  army  would 
dissolve  at  the  end  of  twelve  months. 

The  members  of  Congress  told  Washington  that 
there  was  a  general  eagerness  for  an  attack  upon 
Boston,  but  a  council  of  his  officers  agreed  with  him 
that  it  could  not  be  safely  made.  Washington  was 
also  aware  that  before  a  great  while  all  the  water  be¬ 
tween  the  Boston  shore  and  the  mainland  would  be 
frozen  over.  It  was  quite  likely  that  he  had  before 
him  a  campaign  upon  the  ice.  The  British  ships  of 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


*39 


war  would  be  unable  to  manoeuvre  then,  or  change 
the  bearings  of  their  guns  to  any  extent.  It  would 
be  possible  for  either  side  to  attack  the  intrench- 
ments  of  the  other  without  the  help  of  boats,  and 
he  was  by  no  means  sure  that  all  the  advantages 
so  given  would  belong  to  the  Americans.  At  all 
events,  he  instructed  Mr.  Henry  Knox,  afterward 
general,  to  take  an  account  of  all  the  cannon  and 
ammunition  in  the  camps,  and  then  to  go  to  the 
captured  forts  on  Lake  Champlain  and  elsewhere 
for  as  much  more  as  he  could  obtain. 

The  probability  of  a  great  fight  with  the  British 
had  a  terribly  dark  side  to  it,  in  view  of  the  condi¬ 
tion  of  the  army.  The  men  were  slow  to  re-enlist 
under  the  new  order  of  things,  and  when  they  did 
so,  insisted  upon  going  into  regiments  and  under 
officers  belonging  to  their  own  respective  colonies. 
That  was  bad  enough,  but  the  rivalries,  jealousies, 
and  petty  ambitions  of  the  officers  were  tenfold 
harder  to  deal  with.  In  New  York  they  so  tor¬ 
mented  General  Schuyler  that  Washington  with 
difficulty  kept  him  from  resigning.  In  the  Boston 
camp  they  forced  Washington  to  say,  in  a  letter  : 
“  I  tremble  at  the  prospect.”  At  the  end  of  the 
letter  he  declared  :  “  Could  I  have  foreseen  what  I 
have  experienced  and  am  likely  to  experience,  no 
consideration  upon  earth  should  have  induced  me  to 
accept  this  command.” 

It  is  hardly  possible  that  the  country  contained 
another  man  capable  of  carrying  the  burden  of  that 
time  of  trial,  and  of  compelling  all  of  the  contending 
factions  to  come  to  order.  Men  who  were  bustling 


140 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


around  in  search  of  more  pay  were  compelled  to  look 
into  the  face  of  a  man  who  was  serving  without  any 
pay  whatever,  and  was  using  his  own  money  for 
everything  he  purchased  except  for  military  uses. 
General  Greene  was  a  great  help  to  Washington  at 
this  time,  and  helped  him  to  understand  the  people 
of  New  England.  Their  ways  were  not  those  of 
Virginia  planters  or  of  backwoodsmen  or  red  Indians, 
and  they  needed  to  be  studied  a  little  to  be  appre¬ 
ciated.  They,  on  their  part,  had  studied  Washing¬ 
ton  well  and  appreciated  him  thoroughly,  free  as 
were  the  tongues  with  which  they  criticised  him  and 
such  of  his  ways  as  differed  from  their  own. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


Supplies  from  the  Sea. — Homesick  Soldiers. — Mrs. 
Washington  in  Camp. — Quelling  a  Riot.— -Lord 
Dunmore' s  Plot.  —  The  Defence  of  New  York.— -The 
New  Army.  —  The  British  Driven  out  of  Boston. 

The  early  part  of  the  campaign  in  Canada  seemed 
full  of  promise.  Montreal  and  several  other  impor¬ 
tant  points  were  actually  taken  and  occupied.  If 
the  American  troops  had  been  thoroughly  organized 
and  equipped,  Quebec  must  also  have  fallen,  and 
the  burden  of  its  permanent  defence  would  have 
been  added  to  the  other  burdens  of  the  colonies. 

These  were  getting  pretty  heavy.  The  soldiers 
in  camp  were  becoming  so  homesick  and  weary  of 
privations  that  there  were  many  desertions.  A 
number  of  men  from  Putnam’s  regiment,  whose  time 
was  to  be  out  on  the  ioth  of  December,  decided  to 
march  away  a  week  earlier.  It  is  said  that  the  peo¬ 
ple  along  the  road  would  hardly  give  them  anything 
to  eat,  and  that  the  Connecticut  women  received 
them  so  sharply  when  they  reached  home  that  they 
were  glad  to  enlist  again. 

Washington  was  yet  in  doubt  as  to  how  many 
more  would  follow  the  bad  example  set  by  Putnam’s 
men.  The  situation  had  hardly  anything  cheerful 
in  it.  Early  the  next  day,  however,  there  came 
into  camp  a  long  train  of  heavily  loaded  country 


142 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


wagons.  The  young  navy  had  been  at  work,  and 
the  schooner  Lee,  Captain  Manly,  had  captured  off 
Cape  Ann  a  British  brigantine  with  a  war  cargo. 

There  were  cannon  of  various  kinds,  and  among 
them  a  huge  brass  mortar  that  was  mounted  at  once, 
and  ceremoniously  named  the  “  Congress.”  There 
were  two  thousand  muskets,  a  hundred  thousand 
flints,  thirty  thousand  round  shot,  and  thirty-two 
tons  of  musket  balls. 

The  army  felt  as  if  it  had  won  a  victory  almost, 
and  the  cheers  given  when  “  Old  Put”  christened 
the  “  Congress”  were  heard  in  Boston.  Some  other 
Yankee  cruisers  did  not  do  as  well.  They  retaliated 
for  Falmouth  and  other  British  outrages  by  maraud¬ 
ing  upon  quiet  people  on  the  island  of  St.  Johns, 
compelling  Washington  to  send  back  with  apologies 
the  prisoners  they  brought  him.  At  about  the  same 
time  he  selected  the  British  Brigadier-General  Pres¬ 
cott  as  a  proper  person  to  be  put  in  irons  in  retalia¬ 
tion  for  the  fettering  of  Colonel  Ethan  Allen.  He 
remonstrated  first  with  General  Howe,  and  was  very 
stiffly  answered  by  that  officer.  The  entire  British 
army  felt  sure  that  before  a  great  while  it  would 
have  the  colonies  at  its  feet,  and  that,  in  the  mean 
time,  it  could  treat  the  rebels  and  their  leader  pretty 
much  as  it  pleased.  Washington  had  not  yet  de¬ 
termined  to  bombard  Boston,  and  the  Continental 
Congress  had  not  yet  given  him  permission  to  do  so. 
His  hands  were  fettered  as  to  all  sorts  of  military 
operations,  but  he  instructed  Putnam  to  throw  up 
suitable  works  upon  Cobble  Hill  and  Lechmere  Point 
within  cannon  shot  of  the  town.  The  British  ships 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


M3 


and  their  heavy  guns  on  the  mainland  tried  to  put 
a  stop  to  the  engineering,  but  Putnam  worked 
steadily  away  until  the  “  Congress”  mortar  was  in 
position,  and  he  could  fret  and  fume  for  powder  and 
for  orders  to  throw  shells  among  the  British  quar¬ 
ters.  As  soon  as  the  new  batteries  were  finished,  it 
was  evident  to  the  British  that  if  any  attempt  should 
ever  be  made  to  use  them,  the  guns  must  be  silenced 
or  captured,  or  Boston  evacuated. 

Mrs.  Washington  came  to  the  camp  to  keep  her 
husband  company,  and  gave  a  brilliant  entertain¬ 
ment  on  the  evening  of  the  anniversary  of  her  wed¬ 
ding-day.  There  were  other  social  gayeties  among 
those  who  were  able  to  provide  them,  but  Wash¬ 
ington  thoughtfully  insisted  upon  quiet  and  sim¬ 
plicity  in  the  style  of  his  housekeeping.  He  did 
not  easily  give  his  consent  to  even  the  wedding-day 
party. 

Lord  Dunmore  had  long  since  placed  Virginia 
under  martial  law,  and  was  continually  doing  things 
that  kept  up  the  patriotic  spirit  of  the  Old  Dominion. 
There  and  elsewhere  an  entire  generation  of  boys 
and  young  men  were  rapidly  forgetting  the  fact  that 
they  had  been  born  subjects  of  King  George.  All  the 
girls  and  young  women  had  forgotten  it.  The  older 
people  were  losing  sight  of  the  British  crown  a  little 
more  slowly,  and  the  royal  governors  and  generals 
were  helping  them  with  all  their  might  to  do  so. 
Mount  Vernon  had  not  been  molested  by  red-coats 
or  Tories,  and  Washington  had  given  orders  that 
the  hospitalities  of  the  house  should  be  kept  up 
liberally.  His  own  words  were  :  “  Let  no  one  go 


144 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


hungry  away.  ”  He  also  gave  directions  as  to  chari¬ 
ties  in  money  as  well  as  in  provisions. 

The  kind  of  dignity  absolutely  necessary  to  a 
commanding-general  sat  naturally  upon  Washington, 
and  did  not  hurt  his  popularity  as  it  might  have 
done  that  of  another  man.  At  times,  however,  he 
could  endear  himself  to  the  soldiers  by  feats  that 
put  them  in  mind  of  his  experience  in  the  back- 
woods.  Putnam  himself  could  not  have  dealt  more 
roughly  with  a  riot  than  he  did  upon  one  occasion. 
A  lot  of  Massachusetts  men,  sailors  and  fishermen 
from  the  Marblehead  region,  whose  “  uniform”  was 
such  as  they  commonly  wore  when  catching  mackerel, 
made  fun  of  the  hunting-shirts  and  half-Indian  look 
of  the  Virginia  riflemen.  Snowballs  took  the  place 
of  jokes,  shortly,  and  then  hard  knuckles  took  the 
place  of  snowballs,  and  about  a  thousand  men  were 
pommelling  each  other  when  Washington  rode  up. 
He  was  unattended  save  by  one  of  his  own  colored 
servants,  and  to  him  he  threw  the  bridle  of  his  horse 
as  he  sprang  to  the  ground.  In  an  instant  more  he 
had  a  big  rifleman  by  the  throat  with  each  hand, 
shaking  them  and  lecturing  them  vigorously.  The 
riot  died  out  suddenly,  and  the  riotous  hunters  and 
fishermen  hurried  away  in  all  directions.  Nobody 
was  punished,  but  around  every  camp-fire  that  day 
the  soldiers  felt  more  as  if  their  stately  general  was 
one  of  themselves. 

All  the  operations  of  the  forces  in  Canada  were 
watched  and  waited  for  as  well  as  the  slow  arrivals 
of  dispatches  permitted,  but  there  was  now  little 
more  that  Washington  could  do  in  that  direction. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


145 

He  had  two  other  anxieties  upon  his  hands  beside 
the  siege  of  Boston. 

The  first  related  to  the  Southern  colonies.  A  ship 
was  captured  laden  with  supplies  sent  by  Governor 
Dunmore,  of  Virginia,  to  the  British  army  in  Boston. 
On  board  was  found  a  letter  from  his  lordship  to 
General  Howe,  brimful  of  evil.  It  invited  Howe  to 
transfer  the  war  to  Virginia,  and  suggested  a  plan 
for  freeing  and  arming  all  indentured  servants  and 
all  negro  slaves  of  rebels.  It  was  a  shade  more  in¬ 
famous  than  the  summoning  of  hostile  Indians,  for 
these  Virginians  had  received  Lord  Dunmore  with 
hearty  hospitality,  and  he  would  have  had  their 
houses  sacked  by  the  servants  who  had  waited  upon 
him  at  their  dinners.  Said  Washington,  on  reading 
the  letter  :  “If  this  man  is  not  crushed  before 
spring,  he  will  become  the  most  formidable  enemy 
America  has.  ”  General  Lee  urged  the  immediate 
arrest  of  every  British  governor  or  other  official  or 
known  Tory,  and  the  confiscation  of  all  Tory  prop¬ 
erty  ;  but  the  time  was  not  yet  ripe  for  the  severe 
measures  which  were  sure  to  come.  Washington 
sent  him  to  Newport  first,  to  give  some  unpatriotic 
people  a  severe  lesson.  Immediately  afterward  he 
chose  him  as  the  very  man  to  provide  for  his  other 
great  anxiety.  This  was  the  military  control  of  the 
harbor  of  New  York  and  of  the  Hudson  River. 
Should  these  be  lost,  the  colonies  would  be  cut  in 
two,  and  it  was  well  known  that  the  British  generals 
understood  their  importance.  Washington  himself 
believed  that  to  drive  Howe  out  of  Boston  would  be 
to  send  him  to  New  York,  and  so  General  Lee  went 


146 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


to  make  things  ready  for  him.  General  Schuyler 
might  have  been  entrusted  with  this  duty,  but  he 
had  his  hands  full  in  the  north,  and  it  was  not  until 
the  middle  of  January  that  news  came  of  the  heroic 
but  vain  struggle  for  the  capture  of  Quebec,  the  sad 
loss  of  General  Montgomery,  and  the  forced  retreat 
of  Arnold,  after  all  his  daring  and  energy.  He  had 
exhibited  high  qualities,  and  had  earned  a  fame  that 
made  his  subsequent  fall  only  the  more  pitiable. 

General  Lee  took  hold  of  matters  in  New  York 
with  all  the  more  energy  because  information  had 
been  received  that  the  enemy  were  also  about  to 
begin  active  operations  for  the  control  of  the  Hud¬ 
son.  They  were,  it  was  said,  to  have  the  aid  of  the 
entire  Six  Nations.  There  were  so  many  Tories  in 
New  York  that  Captain  Parker,  of  the  British  man- 
of-war  Asia,  then  in  the  harbor,  gave  as  a  reason  for 
not  shelling  out  Lee  that  the  destruction  of  so 
“  loyal  ”  a  town  would  give  the  rebels  too  much 
pleasure.  Once  more  Washington  saw  the  comic 
side  of  the  matter,  and  laughed  heartily.  On  the 
very  day  of  Lee’s  arrival,  General  Clinton,  with  a 
squadron  of  ships  whose  sailing  from  Boston  had 
caused  much  anxiety  to  Washington,  came  in  and 
paid,  as  the  general  said,  “  a  visit  to  Governor 
Tryon.  ’  ’  The  people  were  greatly  terrified,  for  Lord 
Dunmore  had  already  burned  Norfolk,  Virginia,  as 
mercilessly  as  Falmouth  had  been  burned.  No 
harm  was  done,  as  the  British  had  other  uses  for 
New  York,  and  knew  that  a  strong  fleet  could  sail 
into  the  harbor  at  any  time,  whatever  it  might  be 
able  to  accomplish  afterward.  Clinton  soon  sailed 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


147 


away,  nobody  knew  whither,  saying  that  he  was 
bound  for  North  Carolina. 

The  squadron  under  Clinton  had  sailed  from  Bos¬ 
ton  early  in  January,  and  not  a  man  on  board  the 
ships  could  have  guessed  the  gloomy  state  of  affairs 
in  the  American  camp.  Washington  now  had  with 
him  less  than  ten  thousand  weary  and  homesick 
men,  and  his  supplies  were  running  low.  More  of 
both  were  coming,  but  his  position  was  perilous  and 
disheartening.  He  regretted  much  that  he  had  not 
acted  according  to  his  own  ideas  instead  of  those  of 
his  generals,  and  pushed  the  siege  to  a  hard-fought 
conclusion  before  his  troops  melted  away.  The 
terms  of  enlistment  of  a  large  part  of  them  expired 
at  sunset  of  the  31st  of  December.  They  had  en¬ 
dured  much,  and  it  was  not  easy  to  blame  them  for 
going  home  to  rest  a  little  and  get  something  to  eat. 

There  were  many  murmurs  in  all  parts  of  the 
country  at  what  was  called  the  “  inaction  of  the 
army,”  and  to  have  explained  matters  to  patriotic 
people  at  home  would  also  have  told  the  dangerous 
truth  to  General  Howe.  Washington  was  forced  to 
endure  criticisms  in  silence,  but  he  resolved  to  strike 
quickly  and  hard  the  moment  he  should  have  the 
means  for  doing  so.  His  opportunity  came  slowly, 
but  it  came.  Regiment  after  regiment  of  new 
troops  came  marching  into  camp,  until  his  wreck  of 
an  army  swelled  to  twenty  thousand  men.  Colonel 
Knox  returned  from  his  long  and  toilsome  errand 
after  guns  and  powder  with  triumphant  success.  He 
had  done  wonders,  and  he  brought  to  his  rejoicing 
commander  a  long  train  of  sledges,  drawn  by  oxen, 


I4'S 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


bearing  more  than  fifty  cannon,  including  mortars 
and  howitzers,  beside  other  material  needed  for 
active  operations.  His  coming  took  away  the 
timidity  of  the  other  generals,  and  Washington’s 
next  council  of  war  agreed  with  him. 

The  besieging  works  had  already  been  strength¬ 
ened  from  time  to  time,  but  now  preparations  were 
made  for  a  great  and  sudden  increase.  The  ground 
was  pretty  deeply  frozen  on  the  4th  of  March  for 
pick  and  spade  work,  but  that  was  the  date  set  for 
the  occupation  of  Dorchester  Heights.  Fascines  of 
wood  and  gabions  and  bundles  of  pressed  hay  were 
made  ready  for  the  construction  of  breastworks. 
The  British  knew  nothing  of  what  was  going  on, 
and  the  theatricals  and  balls  with  which  they  had 
amused  themselves  were  hardly  interrupted.  Wash¬ 
ington,  on  the  other  hand,  made  it  a  time  of  almost 
religious  sobriety  and  solemnity  in  his  own  army, 
and  kept  his  existing  batteries  at  work.  The  enemy 
replied  with  spirit,  and  the  cannonading  was  almost 
incessant.  When  the  hour  for  action  came,  this 
firing  diverted  the  attention  of  the  British,  and  the 
Americans  worked  hard  throughout  one  moonlit 
night  almost  in  safety.  When  the  morning  dawned, 
at  last,  the  heights  were  crowned  with  works  which 
had  risen  as  if  by  magic,  and  that  commanded  the 
city.  Howe  declared  that  the  rebels  had  done  more 
work  in  one  night  than  his  whole  army  would  have 
done  in  a  month  ;  but  he  saw  that  he  must  take 
those  redoubts  and  lines  or  leave  Boston.  At  once 
from  all  his  ships  and  batteries  he  opened  a  tremen¬ 
dous  cannonade  that  made  little  or  no  impression. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


149 


The  Americans  expected  all  day  a  storming  party 
like  that  which  was  sent  to  drive  them  from  Breed’s 
Hill,  but  it  did  not  come.  Washington  was  on  the 
ground,  cheering  his  men,  and  feeling  very  sure  of 
the  result  if  the  enemy  should  come.  They  had 
taken  all  day  to  prepare,  intending  to  make  the  as¬ 
sault  at  night,  with  a  wise  thoughtfulness  concern¬ 
ing  American  sharpshooters. 

The  darkness  which  was  to  cover  their  movements 
did  not  come  alone.  With  it  set  in  a  driving  easterly 
storm,  and  a  violent  surf  was  soon  plunging  upon 
the  icy  beach  at  which  they  were  to  land.  Ships 
could  not  be  handled  in  that  gale,  and  boats  would 
be  helpless  in  such  a  sea  and  surf,  and  so  the  British 
columns  went  back  to  their  quarters.  All  the  next 
day  the  storm  raged  on,  with  torrents  of  rain  ;  but 
in  it  all  the  sturdy  patriots  toiled  at  their  works,  until 
they  had  made  them  impregnable.  A  few  shells 
were  thrown  into  Boston  to  show  what  could  be  done 
if  needful,  and  the  British  admiral  commanding  the 
fleet  told  General  Howe  that  his  ships  must  leave 
the  harbor. 

It  was  a  dreadful  humiliation  to  the  British  army, 
but  it  had  to  go.  Rather  than  have  Boston  burned 
to  the  ground,  Washington  consented  to  let  it  go  in 
safety  ;  but  there  was  no  formal  communication  be¬ 
tween  him  and  Howe.  They  were  no  longer  upon 
speaking  terms.  The  frightened  Tories  of  Boston 
went  away  with  the  King’s  troops,  and  the  Con¬ 
tinental  Army  marched  in.  Washington  at  first 
feared  that  the  enemy’s  fleet  had  sailed  for  New 
York,  but  they  had  gone  to  Halifax  instead,  and  he 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


15° 

was  to  have  a  brief  respite  in  which  to  reap  the  fruits 
of  his  victory. 

The  town  was  a  sad  scene  of  devastation,  and 
there  was  mourning  as  well  as  rejoicing  ;  but  hardly 
any  danger  remained  that  it  would  ever  again  see 
any  other  than  the  American  flag  floating  over  it. 

Washington  received  the  thanks  of  Congress  and 
a  gold  medal,  and  the  whole  country  settled  itself 
more  deeply  in  its  conviction  that  it  had  found  the 
right  man  to  command  the  army. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


The  War  Transferred  to  New  York . — Forts  on  the 
Hudson. —  The  Hessians  Coming. — Retreat  from 
Canada. — The  Declaration  of  Independence. — No 
Pardons  Wa?ited. 

There  was  little  danger  that  the  British  military- 
authorities  across  the  water  would  soon  again  at¬ 
tempt  extended  operations  upon  the  coast  of  New 
England.  It  had  cost  them  a  large  amount  of  money 
to  defend  and  lose  Boston.  Their  next  campaign 
was  likely  to  be  among  the  middle  or  southern  colo¬ 
nies.  Congress  therefore  divided  these  into  two 
grand  departments.  One  of  these  was  made  up  of 
Virginia,  the  two  Carolinas,  and  Georgia.  The  other 
comprised  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  and  Maryland.  General  Lee  was  sent  to 
command  in  the  South.  Washington  intended  to 
manage  the  other  department  in  person  as  soon  as 
he  had  put  the  defences  of  Boston  in  shape  to  de¬ 
fend  it  from  an  attack  by  sea  instead  of  an  attack  by 
land.  Meantime  he  sent  General  Putnam  to  suc¬ 
ceed  Lee  in  New  York,  with  orders  to  fortify  at 
available  points.  Only  about  ten  thousand  men 
could  be  given  the  old  veteran,  but  he  went  to  work 
with  a  will. 

There  were  no  troops  to  send  to  the  beaten  army 
in  Canada.  It  had  suffered  further  reverses,  and 


lS2 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


there  was  danger  of  losing  Montreal.  General 
Schuyler,  during  the  winter,  had  put  a  stop  to  Sir 
John  Johnson’s  operations  by  surprising  him  in  his 
own  house.  He  and  his  men  were  permitted  to  go 
free  on  giving  their  parole  of  honor  not  to  do  any¬ 
thing  more  against  the  cause  of  American  freedom. 
Colonel  Guy  Johnson  was  still  at  large,  and  the 
Indians  were  a  source  of  continual  anxiety. 

Washington  arrived  in  New  York  on  the  13th  of 
April,  and  Mrs.  Washington  came  with  him.  He 
was  more  deeply  than  ever  impressed  with  the  im¬ 
portance  of  its  defence.  Governor  Tryon  was  now 
on  board  a  ship  of  the  British  fleet  that  lay  at  anchor 
in  the  lower  bay,  out  of  reach  of  cannon-shot  from 
the  forts  begun  by  General  Lee,  and  which  Putnam 
had  made  yet  more  effective.  The  governor  was 
still  in  active  correspondence  with  the  Tories  on 
shore,  but  had  no  immediate  power  for  harm.  He 
had  even  done  some  good  by  issuing  proclamations 
full  of  threats  and  promises. 

Mrs.  Washington’s  presence  at  once  gave  a  new 
tone  to  the  social  life  of  New  York,  but  she  could 
do  nothing  to  lessen  the  deep  anxiety  of  her  hus¬ 
band.  He  was  painfully  aware  that  his  forces  were 
insufficient  to  hold  the  city  against  even  such  troops 
as  he  well  knew  the  enemy  were  already  able  to  send 
against  him.  He  did  not  at  all  know  what  tremen¬ 
dous  exertions  the  British  ministry  was  making  for 
his  overthrow. 

There  were  men  enough  in  England,  but  the 
American  war  was  not  popular  there.  Recruits  for 
the  army  came  in  slowly  from  among  people  who 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


I53 


had  strong  notions  of  their  own  about  English 
liberty  ;  so  the  British  crown  sent  over  to  the  Ger¬ 
man  States  and  obtained,  for  money,  4300  Bruns- 
wickers  and  13,000  Hessians.  It  was  a  notable  piece 
of  recruiting,  and  it  compelled  Washington  to  meet 
such  numbers  as  he  could  not  otherwise  have  counted 
upon. 

General  Schuyler  had  been  so  bitterly  slandered 
as  to  impair  his  usefulness,  but  Washington  stood 
firmly  by  him,  perhaps  foreseeing  that  his  own  day 
was  to  come  for  sharper  criticisms  than  had  annoyed 
him  during  the  slow  siege  of  Boston.  He  had  al¬ 
ready  sent  Horatio  Gates,  now  a  major-general,  to 
Philadelphia,  to  explain  to  Congress  the  condition 
of  the  army  ;  but  that  body  was  not  satisfied.  They 
preferred  to  take  counsel  with  the  commander-in¬ 
chief  in  person,  and  sent  for  him.  He  left  General 
Putnam  in  charge  of  New  York,  with  full  instruc¬ 
tions,  and  took  Mrs.  Washington  with  him.  He 
found  Congress  well  prepared  to  take  advice,  and  he 
told  them  unreservedly  that  they  might  as  well  pre¬ 
pare  for  a  long  war,  since  no  hope  remained  of  a  set¬ 
tlement  with  Great  Britain  on  any  terms  which  the 
colonies  could  submit  to.  That  was  George  Wash¬ 
ington’s  public  declaration  of  independence,  uttered 
early  in  June.  Congress  was  to  put  it  into  another 
form  one  month  later. 

By  his  advice  Congress  provided  a  War  Office, 
for  enlisting  men  for  three  years,  for  largely  increas¬ 
ing  the  organized  militia,  and  for  adding  floating 
batteries  of  several  sorts  to  the  harbor  defences  of 
New  York.  The  War  Office  was  a  permanent  com- 


*54 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


mittee  of  five,  to  be  called  the  Board  of  War  and 
Ordnance. 

Washington  returned  to  New  York,  writing  to  his 
brother,  John  Augustine  :  “  We  expect  a  bloody 
summer  in  New  York  and  Canada."  Well  he  might, 
for  among  the  other  bad  news  from  the  latter  region 
was  the  fact  that  the  British  General  Carleton  in 
command  had  secured  the  active  services  of  large 
numbers  of  red  men.  The  Iroquois  were  astir,  and 
Sir  John  Johnson  was  reported  to  have  broken  his 
parole.  General  Schuyler  was  doing  his  best  to 
gather  forces  at  Albany  to  protect  the  valley  of  the 
Mohawk,  but  it  was  in  daily  danger  of  savage  in¬ 
roads. 

It  is  very  plain  that  Washington  doubted  his 
ability  to  hold  New  York,  and  he  fortified  different 
places  along  the  Hudson,  so  that  the  loss  of  the  city 
might  not  include  the  loss  of  the  river.  Works  were 
planned  and  begun  above  the  Dunderberg ;  near  West 
Point  ;  on  the  heights  near  Kings  Bridge,  and  else¬ 
where  ;  and  more  was  done  for  the  works  already 
existing  upon  Long  Island  and  on  the  island  of  Man¬ 
hattan,  at  the  lower  end  of  which  stood  all  that  there 
then  was  of  the  city  of  New  York. 

With  the  arrival  of  the  first  fleet  of  transports, 
bringing  Hessians  and  other  re-enforcements  to  the 
British  troops  in  Canada,  all  hope  of  success  in  that 
direction  ended  at  last  ;  and  General  Sullivan,  in 
command  of  the  remnant  of  the  American  army, 
retreated  down  Lake  Champlain  to  Crown  Point. 

The  British  plan  for  the  capture  of  New  York  was 
nearly  ripe.  It  included  a  plot  for  a  sudden  rising 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


*55 


of  all  the  Tories,  and  this  was  in  the  hands  of  Gov¬ 
ernor  Tryon.  He  managed  so  well,  from  his  hiding- 
place  on  board  a  man-of-war  in  the  lower  bay,  that, 
before  the  plot  was  discovered,  he  had  actually  cor¬ 
rupted  some  of  Washington’s  own  body-guard.  One 
of  these  men,  named  Thomas  Hickey,  was  hanged 
for  his  part  in  the  plot  in  a  field  near  the  Bowery 
Lane.  A  crowd  of  twenty  thousand  persons  wit¬ 
nessed  the  hanging,  and  learned  a  lesson  as  to  the 
bitter  earnestness  of  the  war. 

The  very  next  day  there  was  something  yet  more 
terrible  to  think  of.  On  the  29th  of  June  the  look¬ 
out  on  Staten  Island  sent  word  that  “  forty  sail  were 
in  sight.  ” 

Six  of  these  ships  were  transports  full  of  regular 
troops,  Highlanders,  from  England,  and  the  rest 
contained  ten  thousand  men  of  the  old  Boston  gar¬ 
rison,  eager  to  get  even  with  Washington’s  army. 
General  Howe  was  in  command,  and  the  Greyhound 
frigate  that  carried  him  was  one  of  the  first  to  come 
through  the  Narrows.  His  account  of  his  confer¬ 
ence  with  Governor  Tryon  shows  that  they  had  great 
hope  of  help  from  the  American  Tories,  whom  he 
described  as  “  a  most  loyal  people,  long-suffering  on 
that  account  from  the  oppression  of  the  rebels.” 
They  were  to  suffer  yet  more  oppression  at  the  hands 
of  such  rebels  and  tyrants  as  George  Washington, 
Israel  Putnam,  John  Adams,  Philip  Schuyler,  and  a 
long  list  of  wrong-headed  men  who  believed  that 
God  had  made  them  to  be  freemen,  and  that  neither 
they  nor  the  Tories  had  any  right  to  become  any 
other  kind  of  men. 


H6 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


The  British  troops  began  at  once  to  go  ashore 
upon  Staten  Island.  Washington  reported  to  Con¬ 
gress,  calling  for  all  the  troops  that  could  be  sent  to 
him,  and  issued  a  general  order  to  his  army,  bid¬ 
ding  them  to  prepare  for  a  most  momentous  con¬ 
flict.  Washington's  general  order  was  dated  July 
2d.  On  that  same  day  the  Continental  Congress 
adopted  a  resolution  declaring  that  “  These  united 
colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  in¬ 
dependent  States." 

The  resolution  was  agreed  to  unanimously,  and 
two  days  later  Congress  had  before  them  a  formal 
Declaration  of  Independence.  They  discussed 
it  with  closed  doors,  but  the  people  knew  what 
tremendous  business  they  were  doing,  and  gathered 
in  throngs  to  await  the  result.  There  was  an  iron 
tongue  ready  to  tell  them.  On  the  bell  in  the 
steeple  of  the  State  House  was  this  text  from  Script¬ 
ure  :  "  Proclaim  liberty  throughout  the  land  unto 
all  the  inhabitants  thereof." 

The  bell  had  its  errand  from  the  hour  of  its  cast¬ 
ing,  and  the  time  of  the  bell  had  come. 

Solemnly,  prayerfully,  with  a  full  and  deep  con¬ 
sciousness  of  the  vastness  of  the  deed  they  were 
doing,  the  Continental  Congress  adopted  the  Decla¬ 
ration,  and  then  the  Liberty  Bell  rang  out  the  news 
to  the  shouting,  enthusiastic  multitude. 

The  tidings  went  by  swift  messengers  to  New 
York,  and  Washington  heard  it  gladly.  To  his 
mind  it  was,  however,  only  a  public  and  definite  ex¬ 
pression  of  the  great  truth  testified  toby  the  British 
fleet  in  New  York  harbor  and  by  his  forts  on  the 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


157 


land.  The  sword  had  already  cut  asunder  every  tie 
between  America  and  Great  Britain.  The  people 
of  New  York  found  many  ways  of  expressing  their 
patriotic  satisfaction.  Among  others,  they  took  the 
'great  leaden  statue  of  King  George  the  Third  that 
stood  on  the  Bowling  Green,  and  made  bullets  of  it 
to  shoot  his  soldiers  with. 

Two  ships  from  the  British  fleet  sailed  past  the 
American  batteries,  cannonading  as  they  went,  and 
went  on  up  the  Hudson  to  anchor  in  Haverstraw 
Bay.  Their  errand  was  to  keep  up  communication 
with  the  Tories  on  either  shore,  and  to  annoy  patriots. 
They  also  received  some  annoyance  in  return,  and 
the  forts  in  the  Hudson  Highlands  were  at  once 
strongly  garrisoned  and  hurried  on  toward  comple¬ 
tion. 

Admiral  Lord  Howe,  in  command  of  the  British 
fleet,  had  now  arrived.  He  was  a  brother  of  the 
general,  and  was  really  desirous  of  doing  something 
toward  peace.  He  and  his  brother  had  received 
from  the  British  Government  what  they  described 
as  “  great  powers  ”  for  that  purpose.  The  admiral 
shortly  made  an  attempt  to  open  communications 
with  “  Mr.  Washington, ”  and  particularly  to  induce 
him  to  take  and  read  an  important  letter  addressed 
to  “  George  Washington,  Esquire/'  As  Colonel 
Reed,  of  Washington’s  staff,  informed  a  British  naval 
officer  who  held  that  letter  in  his  hand,  “  there  was 
no  such  person  known  in  America.”  It  was  a  hard 
nut  to  crack,  for  if  Admiral  Howe  admitted  that 
Washington  was  a  “general,”  he  confessed  the 
power  of  the  Continental  Congress  to  make  him 


158  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

one.  So  said  Washington  himself,  and  so  said  Con¬ 
gress  afterward,  in  thanking  him  for  maintaining  the 
public  dignity.  He  also  remarked  to  the  British 
Adjutant-General  Patterson,  sent  to  confer  with 
him,  that  the  “  great  powers  ”  possessed  by  the 
British  commanders  seemed  to  relate  especially  to 
the  granting  of  pardons,  and  the  Americans  were 
not  in  need  of  any.  It  was  too  late  now  to  waste 
time  upon  proclamations  and  the  gracious  conde¬ 
scension  of  King  George  and  his  ministers.  The 
Declaration  of  Independence  had  been  adopted,  and 
General  George  Washington  was  commander-in-chief 
of  the  patriot  armies  gathered  to  maintain  it. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


The  Fight  in  Charleston  Harbor. — A  Sermon  on 
Szvearing. — Preparing  for  Bloody  Work.  — The  Bat¬ 
tle  of  Long  Island. — The  Night  Retreat  Covered  by 
a  Fog. — Good  Service  to  America  by  a  Hessia?i 
Sentry. 

It  was  now  too  late  for  compromise.  The  British 
cannon  had  been  heard  all  along  the  coast,  from 
Falmouth  in  Maine  to  Charleston  in  South  Carolina. 
When  Clinton  finished  his  brief  “  visit  ”  with  Gov¬ 
ernor  Tryon  in  New  York  Bay,  he  sailed  southward. 
He  looked  in  at  the  spacious  harbor  of  Norfolk, 
Virginia,  but  found  the  people  of  the  Old  Domin¬ 
ion  so  ready  to  meet  him  that  he  sailed  away  again. 
His  real  destination  from  the  first  may  have  been 
Charleston.  The  South  Carolinians  had  been  for¬ 
tifying  their  seaport  for  nearly  twelve  months,  and 
General  Lee  had  now  arrived  to  give  them  the 
benefit  of  his  energy  and  abilities. 

Among  the  other  defences  which  had  been  con¬ 
structed  was  a  strong  fort  on  Sullivan’s  Island,  about 
six  miles  below  the  city,  mounting  twenty-six  guns. 
Three  miles  nearer,  on  Johnson’s  Island,  was  an¬ 
other  fort,  well  garrisoned  ;  but  when  the  British 
fleet  arrived,  early  in  June,  Sir  Henry  Clinton  de¬ 
cided  that  the  fort  on  Sullivan’s  Island  must  be 
captured.  General  Lee’s  own  opinion  was  that  a 


i6o 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


better  course  would  have  been  to  sail  past  it  and 
take  Charleston  ;  but  he  added  to  that  a  strong  ex¬ 
pression  of  his  gratitude  to  the  British  commander. 
The  fort  was  commanded  by  Colonel  William  Moul¬ 
trie,  and  when  Clinton  landed  troops  on  Long  Island, 
just  below  and  only  separated  from  Sullivan’s  Island 
by  a  narrow  creek,  he  threw  up  more  works  to  meet 
them.  Here  a  force  of  American  regulars  and 
militia,  under  Colonel  Thompson,  kept  the  British 
land  forces  at  bay  during  the  action  that  followed. 
General  Lee  was  on  the  mainland,  ready  to  support 
either  point  as  might  be  needful,  but  in  serious  doubt 
whether  or  not  to  order  the  guns  to  be  spiked  and 
all  the  works  abandoned.  The  courage  and  spirit 
of  Colonel  Moultrie  and  his  men  rendered  that  un¬ 
necessary,  and  they  made  one  of  the  grandest  fights 
on  record.  They  stuck  to  their  post  firmly,  under  a 
most  furious  fire  from  the  British  fleet,  serving  their 
cannon  with  cool  deliberation  and  deadly  aim.  The 
fort  was  mainly  construced  of  sea-sand  and  palmetto 
logs,  that  threw  out  no  splinters  when  struck  by  shot 
or  shell  ;  and  but  thirty-five  Americans  were  killed 
or  wounded. 

The  British  commander  had  a  sadder  report  to 
make.  The  cannonade  between  the  ships  and  the 
port  continued  for  twelve  full  hours  without  inter¬ 
mission,  except  for  a  brief  space  when  Moultrie  was 
out  of  powder.  Sir  Peter  Parker,  in  command  of 
the  fleet,  was  wounded  ;  Lord  Campbell,  formerly 
a  royal  governor  of  South  Carolina,  was  killed  ;  the 
man-of-war  Actaeon  was  destroyed,  and  several  other 
ships  badly  damaged.  One  hundred  and  seventy- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


161 

five  killed  and  as  many  more  wounded  completed 
the  list  of  losses. 

Washington  made  all  the  use  he  could  of  the  vic¬ 
tory  in  South  Carolina  to  encourage  his  troops,  but 
they  were  not  to  have  any  opportunity  for  artillery 
practice  upon  ships  of  war  for  targets.  Even  an  at¬ 
tempt  to  construct  fire-ships  and  send  them  out  to 
kindle  the  British  fleet  broke  down  for  lack  of  time 
and  means.  General  Putnam  devised  a  method  of 
obstructing  the  Hudson  below  the  Tappan  Sea  with 
sunken  vessels  and  chevanx-de-frise,  but  the  two 
men-of-war  above  that  point  repulsed  with  loss  an 
attempt  to  capture  them  by  a  force  in  six  large 
“  row-galleys/’ 

Washington’s  re-enforcements  came  to  him  slowly, 
while  those  of  the  enemy  were  arriving  in  alarming 
numbers.  It  looked  as  if  the  army  and  all  its  mili¬ 
tary  stores  might  some  day  be  caught  upon  Man¬ 
hattan  Island  as  in  a  trap.  Still,  it  was  a  hard  thing 
to  give  up  a  place  so  important  without  a  struggle. 
The  British  forces  were  thirty  thousand  strong,  well 
led,  well  provided,  well  disciplined.  The  Ameri¬ 
cans,  all  told,  were  twenty  thousand,  a  large  part 
raw  militia  ;  and  nearly  a  fourth  of  them  were  on  the 
sick  list.  Even  the  bilious  fever  that  prevailed 
among  them  gave  Washington  less  trouble  than  did 
the  sectional  jealousies  among  the  men  and  the 
quarrels  concerning  rank  and  authority  among  the 
officers.  His  “  general  order  ”  upon  the  miserable 
divisions  of  feeling  which  threatened  to  cripple  the 
army  was  full  of  earnest  patriotism.  He  had  broken 
down  for  himself  all  sectional  narrowness,  and  had 


162 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


become  an  American.  All  that  was  needed  by  his 
soldiers  was  to  follow  his  example  in  this  and  in 
other  important  matters.  He  took  pains  to  give 
them  all  possible  opportunity  for  rest  on  Sundays, 
and  for  attending  places  of  worship.  He  gave  them, 
in  a  general  order,  one  of  the  best  short  sermons 
ever  preached  against  profane  swearing.  He  was 
preparing  them  and  himself  for  what  he  considered 
a  time  of  deep  solemnity,  and  when  it  came  it  was 
every  way  as  dark  as  he  had  feared.  He  sent  Mrs. 
Washington  home  to  Mount  Vernon,  and  other 
officers,  whose  wives  had  been  with  them,  did  the 
same.  He  issued  a  proclamation  advising  the  peo¬ 
ple  of  New  York  City  to  remove  out  of  harm’s  way, 
commanding  officers  and  soldiers  to  aid  them  in  so 
doing.  It  might  even  become  necessary  for  him  to 
burn  the  town,  and  it  was  quite  likely  that  bloody 
fighting  might  take  place  in  its  streets.  It  was  a 
time  of  fear  and  frequent  panic  for  the  citizens, 
whether  Tories  or  patriots. 

The  two  ships  in  the  Tappan  Sea  made  their 
escape  about  this  time  through  a  hole  that  Putnam 
had  not  yet  closed  in  his  barrier  ;  but  he  at  once 
shut  that  gate  behind  them.  It  was  a  great  per¬ 
plexity  to  Washington  that  the  British  would  be 
able  to  land  at  any  point  they  might  select.  It  was 
by  no  means  impossible  for  them  to  pen  him  in,  and 
he  could  do  little  more  than  guess  in  what  direction 
to  expect  them. 

All  doubt  vanished  on  the  22d  of  August,  1776, 
when  Generals  Grant,  Heister,  and  Clinton,  with  nine 
thousand  men  and  forty  cannon,  landed  upon  the 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


1 63 


southerly  shore  of  Long  Island.  They  were  after¬ 
ward  heavily  re-enforced,  far  outnumbering  all  the 
force  that  could  be  opposed  to  their  advance.  Wash¬ 
ington  had  been  informed  that  such  a  movement 
was  intended,  but  the  roar  of  the  enemy’s  cannon 
gave  him  his  first  assurance  that  the  fight  for  New 
York  had  begun.  He  knew  that  the  British  aim 
would  be  the  capture  of  the  Brooklyn  Heights,  from 
which  their  guns  would  have  the  city  at  their  mercy. 
General  Greene  had  been  in  command  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  troops  on  Long  Island,  but  he  was  now  sick  of 
a  fever.  General  Sullivan  had  taken  his  place,  but 
was  not  yet  sufficiently  familiar  with  the  country 
beyond  his  lines  to  guard  against  a  great  disaster. 

The  rich  people  had  long  since  left  the  city,  but 
the  sick  and  the  poor  and  the  infirm  could  not  get 
away,  and  these  were  in  great  terror  now.  There 
was  a  report  that  Washington  meant  to  retreat  and 
burn  everything  behind  him.  Even  after  he  publicly 
denied  it,  his  headquarters  were  beset  by  crowds  of 
frightened  people  begging  for  protection.  When  he 
went  out  to  his  military  duties,  the  women  and  the 
children  came  around  him,  pleading  for  help,  and  he 
gave  them  all  the  kindness  and  comfort  in  his  power. 

The  British  advance  found  the  Americans  well 
posted  and  ready  for  them,  and  for  two  days  there 
was  little  more  than  sharp  skirmishing.  Washing¬ 
ton  went  over  and  inspected  the  lines  in  person  on 
the  second  day,  but  he  had  no  means  of  knowing 
that  a  road  by  which  the  British  could  turn  his  left 
flank  had  been  entirely  neglected,  so  that  defeat 
was  sure  to  come.  When  he  returned  to  the  city  he 


164 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


found  old  General  Putnam  feeling  miserably  at  being 
kept  so  far  away  from  actual  fighting,  and  he  sent 
him  over  to  take  command  of  the  works  ;  but  Sulli¬ 
van  was  still  in  charge  of  the  troops  beyond  them. 
These  were  little  more  than  five  thousand  in  number, 
but  they  held  the  British  army  in  check,  along  a  line 
of  wooded  hills,  until  the  27th  of  August.  The 
night  before,  General  Clinton,  with  the  British  right 
wing,  had  found  and  seized  the  unguarded  pass  and 
road,  and  at  dawn  of  day  he  was  pushing  forward  to 
turn  the  American  left.  At  the  same  time  the 
British  in  front  of  Sullivan  attacked  sharply,  to  draw 
him  as  far  as  possible  into  what  was  now  a  trap.  It 
was  a  very  well-managed  operation.  The  booming 
of  cannon  at  sunrise  told  Washington  that  a  general 
engagement  was  going  on.  There  was  so  strong  a 
wind  blowing  down  the  harbor  that  he  knew  no 
ships  could  come  up  to  attack  at  another  point,  and 
so  he  went  over  to  Brooklyn.  He  arrived  just  in 
time  to  witness  the  destruction  of  the  forces  under 
Sullivan. 

Outflanked,  outnumbered,  the  brave  fellows  fought 
nobly,  all  in  vain.  It  was  impossible  to  escape,  and 
numbers  of  them  were  captured  or  killed  within 
sight  of  the  Brooklyn  forts.  Washington  could  send 
them  no  help.  He  could  only  wring  his  hands  and 
cry  aloud  :  “  Good  God  !  what  brave  fellows  I  must 
this  day  lose  !” 

The  enemy’s  loss  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island 
was  stated  by  themselves  at  380  killed  and  wounded. 
The  American  loss  was  not  accurately  known  at  the 
time,  owing  to  the  confusion  which  followed,  but 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON .  165 

the  British  reported  it  at  3300  killed,  wounded,  and 
prisoners.  Among  the  latter  was  General  Sullivan 
himself.  The  effect  of  this  defeat  was  all  that  the 
British  generals  could  have  asked  for.  It  was  not 
necessary  for  them  to  waste  men  in  an  assault  upon 
the  Brooklyn  forts,  and  they  did  not  do  so.  It  was 
no  longer  possible  for  Washington  to  hold  New 
York.  The  only  question  left  for  him  to  answer 
was  that  of  how  he  should  escape  without  the  loss 
of  his  entire  army. 

Early  on  the  morning  after  the  battle  re-enforce¬ 
ments  arrived,  so  that  Washington  had  under  him 
nine  thousand  men  on  Long  Island  ;  but  it  could  be 
seen  that  the  troops  were  dispirited.  The  British 
were  now  twenty  thousand  strong,  and  their  artillery 
was  already  busy.  It  would  have  been  more  so  but 
for  a  drenching  rain-storm.  It  was  necessary  to  get 
away  before  the  British  fleet  should  have  a  tide  and 
wind  sufficiently  favorable  to  warrant  the  sailing  of 
it  into  the  East  River,  between  New  York  and 
Brooklyn,  and  compelling  an  immediate  surrender. 
Word  came  to  Washington  that  already  there  were 
signs  of  a  naval  movement.  He  called  a  council  of 
war,  and  it  was  decided  to  retreat  at  once.  The  col¬ 
lection  of  vessels  and  boats,  of  all  sorts  and  sizes,  to 
ferry  the  army  over,  began  at  noon.  Every  craft 
on  the  entire  water  front  of  Manhattan  Island  was 
impressed.  All  was  ready  by  eight  o'clock  that 
evening,  but  the  guards  and  sentries  were  posted  as 
usual,  and  the  British  had  no  warning  that  their  ex¬ 
pected  prize  was  getting  away  from  them.  The 
American  soldiers  were  no  wiser,  for  their  orders 


i66 


GEORGE  IV A  SUING  TON. 


told  them  only  of  an  expected  attack  by  the  enemy. 
Weary  and  wet,  they  silently  armed  and  formed, 
and  marched  away  to  be  ferried  over  the  East  River 
instead  of  fighting  a  night  battle.  Washington 
superintended  the  ferrying  in  person,  but,  in  spite 
of  all  his  care,  mistakes  occurred.  One  cannon 
went  off  precisely  at  midnight,  nobody  ever  knew 
how  or  why.  The  sentries  and  guards  were  also 
called  away  too  soon,  and  if  the  British  had  but 
known  their  opportunity,  nothing  could  have  saved 
the  rear  of  the  American  army.  It  was  very  much 
as  in  Boston  harbor,  when  the  east  wind  came  to 
protect  the  fort-builders  on  Dorchester  Heights. 
This  time  it  was  a  dense  fog  that  settled  over  Wash¬ 
ington’s  retreat  and  hid  it  from  the  enemy.  It  cov¬ 
ered  the  Brooklyn  shore,  the  forts,  the  British  lines  ; 
but  on  the  New  York  side  the  air  was  clear,  and  the 
ferried  troops  could  form  without  confusion.  The 
water  was  smooth,  and  the  boating  was  safe  and 
easy.  By  the  dawn  of  day  the  retreat  had  been  suc¬ 
cessfully  accomplished,  and  nothing  was  left  behind 
but  a  few  cannon  that  were  too  heavy  for  such  rapid 
operations.  Horses  and  cattle,  wagons,  provisions, 
artillery,  ammunition,  sick  men  and  well  alike — all 
were  saved  ;  and  the  last  boat  that  left  the  Brooklyn 
shore  contained  General  George  Washington. 

It  was  just  then  that  the  British  received  informa¬ 
tion  of  the  retreat,  and  began  cautiously  to  enter 
and  explore  the  abandoned  works.  Some  of  them 
got  as  far  as  the  water’s  edge  before  the  last  Ameri¬ 
can  boats  had  reached  the  opposite  shore,  but  they 
could  do  no  harm.  They  captured  a  wherry  and 


GEORGE  WA  SUING  TON.  1 6  7 

three  thieves,  but  the  Continental  troops  had  es¬ 
caped. 

It  was  a  wonderfully  well-managed  retreat,  and 
gained  for  Washington  almost  as  much  additional 
reputation  as  if  it  had  been  a  victory.  He  deserved 
all,  but  he  had  not  provided  the  smooth  water,  the 
dense  fog  ;  and,  among  other  helps  that  came  to 
him,  he  had  not  planned  the  Hessian  sentinels  on 
duty  that  night.  A  Tory  lady  living  within  the 
American  lines  sent  one  of  her  black  servants  to 
warn  the  British  that  the  Americans  were  escaping. 
The  Hessian  sentinel  he  spoke  to  could  not  under¬ 
stand  him  ;  neither  could  the  Hessian  officer,  who 
at  once  put  him  in  the  guard-house.  It  was  nearly 
morning  before  a  British  officer  came  to  hear  the 
poor  fellow’s  errand,  and  even  then  it  was  not  be¬ 
lieved  until  after  much  cautious  reconnoitring. 

All  things  had  worked  together  to  enable  Wash¬ 
ington’s  outnumbered  troops  to  get  away.  Had  it 
been  otherwise,  no  human  skill  or  vigilance  or  energy 
would  have  sufficed  for  such  an  undertaking. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


New  Offers  of  Pardon .  —  The  Retreat  from  New  York . 
• — A  Burst  of  Temper . — Patriotic  Hospitality.— 
The  Camp  on  Washington  Heights . — Providing  for 
Another  New  Army. —  War. — The  Battle  of  White 
Plains.— Loss  of  Fort  Washington . 

The  British  troops  now  held  the  whole  of  Long 
Island,  and  Admiral  Howe’s  fleet  sailed  in  from  the 
lower  bay  and  anchored  near  Governor’s  Island. 
Three  days  after  the  battle  of  Long  Island  Wash¬ 
ington  wrote  to  the  President  of  Congress  :  “  Our 
situation  is  truly  distressing.”  He  added  a  detailed 
statement  of  such  difficulties  as  would  have  driven  a 
weaker  man  to  despair.  He  had  less  than  twenty 
thousand  men  fit  for  duty,  and  these  were  deserting 
him  and  returning  to  their  homes  by  squads  and 
companies.  It  was  this  fact  which  compelled  their 
general  to  abandon  all  hope  of  holding  New  York, 
for  the  enemy  were  35,000  strong.  It  was  certain 
that  they  would  soon  make  another  advance,  and 
it  was  not  by  any  means  certain  that  the  disheart¬ 
ened  Americans  would  fight  well.  Terrible  stories 
were  told  of  the  butcheries  perpetrated  upon  Sulli¬ 
van’s  beaten  troops  by  the  Hessians.  The  sick-list 
was  discouragingly  large.  The  men  were  well  aware 
of  the  great  strength  of  the  force  that  was  to  move 
against  them.  There  was  so  much  to  palliate  the 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


169 


conduct  of  those  who  marched  away,  that  Washing¬ 
ton  made  little  effort  to  detain  them,  and  punished 
nobody.  He  wrote  and  spoke  of  them  considerately 
and  kindly,  but  at  the  same  time  he  urged  upon 
Congress  the  bad  policy  of  short  enlistments.  The 
soldiers  who  were  to  save  the  country  must  be  en¬ 
listed  “  for  the  war.” 

There  was  a  reason  why  the  British  army  did  not 
at  once  bring  on  another  engagement,  and  why 
Washington  was  given  a  brief  interval  of  time  in 
which  to  take  counsel  and  to  put  his  remaining 
forces  in  order.  Admiral  Lord  Howe  was  sincerely 
desirous  of  preventing  further  bloodshed,  and  thought 
it  likely  that  just  after  so  severe  a  disaster  “  the 
rebels  ”  would  be  in  better  humor  to  listen  to  him. 
He  paroled  General  Sullivan  and  sent  him  into  the 
American  lines  to  open  for  him  a  negotiation  with 
Congress.  He  informed  that  body,  through  the 
general,  that  he  was  empowered  to  compromise  the 
disputes  between  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies. 
He  was  ready  to  offer  the  most  favorable  terms. 
He  could  not,  of  course,  recognize  Congress  as  a 
lawful  assembly,  with  any  sort  of  legislative  powers, 
but  he  desired  a  conference  with  some  of  its  mem¬ 
bers — that  is,  if  Congress  would  appoint  a  com¬ 
mittee  he  would  condescend  to  confer  with  that 
committee  without  admitting  that  it  was  one.  After 
much  discussion,  Congress  decided  that  it  could  not 
exactly  comply  with  his  lordship’s  dignified  request, 
but  that  John  Adams,  Edward  Rutledge,  and  Ben¬ 
jamin  Franklin  might  go  and  talk  with  him,  find  out 
what  treaty-making  powers  he  really  possessed,  and 


1 7 o  GEORGE  WA  SHING TON. 

what  proposals  he  was  prepared  to  offer.  This  was 
wise,  since  a  flat  rejection  of  what  professed  to  be  a 
peaceful  overture  would  have  been  disapproved  of 
by  the  people  generally. 

The  committee  held  a  long  conference  with  Lord 
Howe,  on  the  nth  of  September,  at  a  house  on 
Staten  Island.  It  ended  precisely  as  had  been  ex¬ 
pected  by  all  men  of  common-sense.  Lord  Howe 
declared,  plainly,  that  he  had  no  power  to  offer  any 
terms  except  upon  condition  that  the  colonies 
should  return  to  their  allegiance  to  King  George  the 
Third.  The  committee,  in  reply,  after  reminding 
Lord  Howe  of  the  fact  that  the  King’s  armies  were 
now  waging  war  against  the  colonies,  and  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  of  other  important 
historical  matters,  told  him  that  Congress  had  no 
power  to  bind  the  colonies  or  to  agree  for  them  that 
they  would  return  to  their  allegiance.  That  settled 
the  matter.  The  committee  returned  to  Philadel¬ 
phia,  and  Lord  Howe  gave  up  all  hope  of  bringing 
back  the  colonies  save  by  force  of  arms.  While  this 
negative  diplomacy  was  going  on,  Washington  and 
his  generals  were  discussing  the  important  question 
of  holding  or  abandoning  the  city  of  New  York.  He 
had  no  longer  any  doubt  in  his  own  mind,  but  sev¬ 
eral  of  his  best  officers  were  eager  to  make  a  stand. 
Congress  had  already  forbidden  the  destruction  of 
the  town,  and  now  they  passed  another  resolution 
that  sensibly  left  Washington  free  to  do  as  he  should 
see  fit.  He  at  once  began  the  removal  of  stores  and 
baggage  ;  but  on  the  14th  of  September  the  British 
changed  his  deliberation  to  sudden  haste. 


GEORGE  WA  SUING  TON.  1 7 1 

There  had  been  some  firing  by  the  ships 'of  war 
the  day  before,  and  a  cannon  shot  had  passed  within 
six  feet  of  Washington  as  he  rode  along.  Just  at 
the  close  of  the  14th  word  came  to  Washington  that 
the  enemy  were  landing  in  strong  force  upon  the 
islands  at  the  mouth  of  Harlem  River.  He  was 
at  once  in  the  saddle,  for  his  intention  had  been  to 
remove  his  headquarters  to  Kings  Bridge  that  night, 
and  this  looked  as  if  the  British  meant  to  seize  the 
Westchester  mainland  at  once.  They  did  no  more 
until  morning,  when  the  ships  began  to  cannonade 
the  forts  heavily  wherever  they  could  bring  the  guns 
to  bear.  Toward  noon  one  division  of  British  troops 
and  one  of  Hessians  crossed  the  East  River  from 
Long  Island.  Covered  by  the  fire  from  the  ships, 
they  landed  in  safety  at  a  point  between  Kip’s  Bay 
and  Turtle  Bay.  There  were  breastworks  there 
strong  enough  to  have  checked  their  advance,  but 
these  were  manned  by  disheartened  militia,  who  ran 
at  the  first  approach  of  the  enemy.  Two  brigades 
of  Connecticut  troops  sent  to  support  them  caught 
the  cowardly  infection  and  stampeded  in  all  direc¬ 
tions  just  as  General  Washington  himself  came  gal¬ 
loping  down  to  ascertain  the  meaning  of  the  can¬ 
nonading. 

Well  had  he  decided  that  he  could  not  trust  those 
men  ;  but  he  dashed  in  among  them  now,  in  a  des¬ 
perate  attempt  to  rally  them.  Homesickness,  dis¬ 
aster,  uncertainties  of  all  sorts,  had  done  their  work, 
and  the  troops  had  lost  their  courage.  As  fast  as 
their  general  could  induce  a  squad  of  them  to  form, 
they  broke  and  ran  before  the  advancing  lines  of 


172 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


the  enemy.  Washington’s  hot  temper  got  the  better 
of  him.  He  lost  all  self-control  in  a  tempest  of 
wrath  which  had  in  it  something  of  despair  of  the 
whole  cause  of  liberty.  He  drew  his  pistols,  and 
threatened  to  shoot  the  wavering.  He  menaced  the 
breaking  ranks  with  his  drawn  sword.  He  dashed 
his  hat  upon  the  ground,  shouting  :  “  Are  these  the 
men  with  whom  I  am  to  defend  America  !”  Of  his 
personal  safety  he  was  so  reckless  that  he  might 
have  been  killed  or  captured,  for  the  enemy  were 
within  eighty  yards  of  him,  had  not  an  aide-de- 
camp  seized  the  bridle  of  his  horse  and  forced  him 
to  ride  away. 

The  picture  of  the  angry  patriot,  led  away  bare¬ 
headed  from  among  his  routed  men,  is  one  that 
should  be  preserved  side  by  side  with  the  more 
familiar  pictures  of  his  ordinary  self-control  and  dig¬ 
nity.  Both  are  necessary  in  order  to  get  acquainted 
with  him. 

Washington  was  soon  himself  again,  giving  further 
orders  calmly  ;  and  for  some  unknown  reason  the 
British  pushed  their  advantage  slowly.  The  troops 
under  Putnam,  who  still  remained  in  the  city,  es¬ 
caped  by  a  forced  march,  leaving  quantities  of  stores 
and  heavy  guns  behind  them.  Many  women  and 
children  were  with  the  troops  ;  the  day  was  sultry  ; 
the  line  of  march  was  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  Brit¬ 
ish  ships  in  the  Hudson  ;  it  was  a  time  of  panic, 
terror.  There  were  many  brave  men  and  officers 
who  nobly  seconded  the  efforts  and  carried  out  the 
orders  of  their  chief,  and  conspicuous  among  these 
was  Putnam.  To  his  energy  and  fidelity  the  escape 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


173 


of  that  part  of  the  army  was  mainly  due.  The  Brit¬ 
ish  generals  in  charge  of  the  advance  are  also  said 
to  have  lost  precious  time  at  a  luncheon  given  them 
at  the  house  of  a  patriotic  Quaker  named  Murray, 
on  “  Murray  Hill.  It  was  a  common  saying  on 
the  American  side  that  Mrs.  Murray  saved  Putnam’s 
division. 

Looking  at  the  map  of  Manhattan  Island,  it  will 
be  seen  that  on  the  western  side  it  reaches  up  to  the 
Spuyten  Duyvil  Creek  in  a  long,  narrow  neck  of  high¬ 
lands.  On  the  west  of  this  is  the  Hudson,  and  on 
the  east  the  Harlem  River,  and  here  Washington 
gathered  the  main  body  of  his  army.  The  remainder 
were  above,  at  Kings  Bridge,  and  northward,  upon 
the  Westchester  mainland.  Fort  Washington  was 
on  a  crest  of  the  heights,  and  there  were  fortified 
lines  a  mile  and  a  half  south  of  it.  The  position 
was  already  strong,  and  it  was  while  putting  up 
works  to  strengthen  it  that  Washington  became  ac¬ 
quainted  with  Alexander  Hamilton. 

The  British  were  now  in  full  possession  of  New 
York,  and  in  high  spirits.  They  waited  but  a  day 
or  so  before  they  began  to  press  the  Americans 
again,  but  their  first  attack  was  gallantly  received 
and  sharply  repulsed.  It  was  so  well  fought  an 
action  that  it  did  much  toward  restoring  the  courage 
and  confidence  of  the  men.  The  Connecticut  troops, 
in  particular,  fought  hard  to  wipe  out  the  disgrace 
of  the  Kip’s  Bay  stampede. 

On  the  20th  of  September  a  large  part  of  New 
York  City  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  the  British 
called  it  the  work  of  rebel  incendiaries.  They  even 


174 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


caught  and  shot  some  of  the  men  whom  they  ac¬ 
cused  ;  but  the  charge  was  false  so  far  as  Washington 
.  or  the  Continental  Congress  were  concerned. 

The  commander-in-chief  was  now  struggling  with 
the  perpetual  problem  of  how  he  was  to  keep  any 
army  to  command.  The  terms  of  enlistment  of  his 
best  men  were  fast  expiring.  He  wrote  to  Congress 
so  earnestly  and  convincingly  that  the  laws  he  asked 
for  were  enacted.  The  several  colonies,  according 
to  population,  were  called  upon  to  make  up  eighty- 
eight  battalions  of  men.  A  system  of  bounties  and 
of  better  pay  was  adopted,  and  it  looked  as  if  there 
was  at  last  to  be  an  army  which  would  not  fall  to 
pieces  at  the  wrong  time.  No  part  of  these  eighty- 
eight  battalions,  however,  were  now  coming  into  the 
fortified  camp  on  Washington  Heights,  and  the  bat¬ 
talions  already  there  were  fast  crumbling  away.  As 
might  have  been  expected,  the  same  disasters  which 
had  discouraged  all  patriots  had  encouraged  all 
Tories,  and  considerable  numbers  of  these  were  now 
enlisting  and  arming  as  re-enforcements  to  the 
British  and  Hessians.  Beyond  a  doubt,  these  men 
were  honest  in  their  view  of  the  matter  ;  but  they 
were  regarded  with  intensely  bitter  resentment  by 
the  friends  of  American  liberty. 

Under  such  circumstances  the  British  generals 
could  afford  to  wait  a  little,  and  they  did  so.  Never¬ 
theless,  their  inactivity  was  so  great  as  to  arouse 
Washington’s  suspicions  that  they  were  preparing 
some  great  and  sudden  movement  in  secret.  The 
forts  guarding  the  Hudson  were  now  pretty  strong, 
and  Putnam  was  again  busy  with  his  plan  of  ob- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 


*75 


structions.  These  latter,  however,  were  like  many 
other  ingenious  inventions — they  needed  too  many 
improvements  ;  and  before  these  could  be  added, 
three  British  men-of-war  came  up  the  river  before  a 
good  wind  and  sailed  right  though  them,  chevaux- 
de-frise  and  all.  Washington  gave  orders  to  com¬ 
plete  the  obstructions  behind  them,  so  that  they 
should  not  easily  get  down  again  ;  but  they  did 
much  damage  immediately,  sinking  or  capturing 
American  armed  galleys  and  river  craft,  plundering 
along  the  shores,  and  giving  all  sorts  of  aid  and  com¬ 
fort  to  the  Tories.  It  was  carrying  the  war  into  the 
interior  of  the  colony,  and  caused  an  immense 
amount  of  excitement.  A  little  later  the  enemy 
landed  a  force  at  Throg’s  Neck,  in  Westchester,  on 
Long  Island  Sound.  They  were  prevented  from 
marching  inland,  but  it  was  now  plain  that  General 
Howe  considered  Washington’s  present  camp  as 
good  a  trap  to  catch  him  in  as  Brooklyn  Heights 
had  been. 

General  Lee  had  now  arrived  from  the  South, 
flushed  with  successes  which  had  not  required  a 
tenth  part  of  the  generalship  exhibited  by  Washing¬ 
ton  in  his  disasters.  The  people  generally  could  not 
be  aware  of  that,  and  many  excellent  men  drew  un¬ 
just  contrasts,  and  wished  that  Lee  were  commander- 
in-chief.  Whatever  may  have  been  his  own  ambi¬ 
tion  at  that  time,  he  gave  capital  advice  to  Congress. 
He  urged  them  to  raise  a  strong  force  with  which 
to  face  any  movement  of  the  enemy  southward  from 
New  York,  as  Washington’s  army  could  do  nothing 
in  such  a  case.  He  also  intimated  sharply  that 


176 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


Congress  was  hampering  Washington's  action  too 
much  all  the  while,  and  should  leave  him  free  and 
untrammelled  in  the  management  of  his  campaign. 
When  he  reached  camp  and  was  summoned  to  attend 
a  council  of  war,  he  again  gave  wise  advice  that 
there  was  no  good  military  reason  for  holding  that 
neck  of  rocky  ground  on  Manhattan  Island,  with  a 
fair  prospect  of  being  penned  in  and  captured  there. 
Besides  his  sound  advice,  Lee  brought  into  camp  a 
fund  of  high  spirits  which  was  catching  and  did  a 
world  of  good  ;  but  harm  was  done  by  making  an 
idol  of  him  at  the  expense  of  the  only  man  who 
could  deal  with  just  the  forces  under  Washington's 
command.  Even  the  name  of  Fort  Constitution, 
on  the  New  Jersey  shore,  opposite  Fort  Washing¬ 
ton,  and  now  in  command  of  General  Greene,  was 
changed  to  Fort  Lee.  Washington  had  no  personal 
jealousy  in  him,  and  gave  Lee  the  command  of  one 
of  the  four  divisions  into  which  he  distributed  the 
army  before  marching  northward.  A  strong  garri¬ 
son  was  left  in  Fort  Washington,  and  the  retreat  of 
the  main  body  was  conducted  with  due  deliberation. 
In  a  few  days’  time  a  new  line  of  camps,  defended 
here  and  there  by  breastworks  or  redoubts,  extended 
along  the  western  bank  of  the  Bronx  River  below 
the  village  of  White  Plains.  The  men  in  these 
camps  were  poorly  fed,  and  their  ragged  clothing 
was  not  enough  to  protect  them  from  the  increasing 
cold.  The  well-provided  troops  opposed  to  them 
freely  ridiculed  the  “  ragged  rebels,"  and  confidently 
expected  easy  victories  over  such  scarecrow  regi¬ 
ments. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


177 


General  Howe  had  recently  been  made  a  knight, 
and  was  now  Sir  William  Howe.  He  had  also  re¬ 
ceived  important  re-enforcements  of  British  and 
Hessians.  He  had  already  thrown  away  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  he  seemed  to  have  of  trapping  the  Americans 
south  of  Harlem  River,  and  his  landing  place  at 
Throg’s  Point  was  now  so  well  guarded  against  him 
that  he  had  to  find  another.  He  did  so  ;  but  from 
the  hour  when  his  advance  began,  his  troops  found 
their  way  impeded  by  stubborn  skirmishing  parties 
of  those  same  ragged  rebels.  As  he  pushed  forward, 
Washington  withdrew  his  outposts  to  the  camp  he 
was  fortifying  at  White  Plains  ;  and  he  well  knew 
that  a  general  engagement  could  not  be  long  put 
off.  On  the  27th  of  October  there  was  a  brisk  can¬ 
nonade  at  Fort  Washington  with  two  ships  of  war,  in 
which  the  latter  suffered  badly  ;  and  on  the  same 
day  the  division  under  Lee  marched  to  White  Plains. 
It  arrived  in  the  morning,  after  a  night  march,  and 
Lee  and  Washington  were  conversing  as  to  the  posi¬ 
tions  occupied  by  the  camps,  when  they  were  told 
that  the  enemy  were  attacking  in  full  force  along  the 
front.  The  pickets  had  been  driven  in,  but  every 
commander  already  had  his  orders,  in  such  a  case, 
and  the  army  fell  into  order  of  battle  capitally  well. 
Having  done  so,  it  fought  well,  although  forced  to 
fall  back  by  superior  numbers.  Between  three  and 
four  hundred  men  killed,  wounded,  or  prisoners 
summed  up  the  American  losses,  and  those  of 
the  enemy  were  about  the  same.  The  battle  of 
White  Plains  was  not  a  great  battle,  and,  after  it 
was  over,  General  Howe  contented  himself  with 


173 


GEORGE  V/A  SUING  TON. 


efforts,  for  several  days,  to  outflank  his  antagonist. 
It  was  a  test  of  generalship,  and  he  failed,  for  he 
was  met  at  every  point  ;  and  on  the  last  day  of  the 
month  Washington  suddenly  retreated  to  a  yet 
stronger  position  five  miles  farther  northward.  Two 
days  later  Howe  decided  that  he  could  gain  nothing 
more  in  that  direction,  and  marched  away  to  capture 
a  prize  unwisely  left  within  his  reach  upon  Manhattan 
Island.  This  was  Fort  Washington,  with  all  its 
stores,  guns,  and  its  brave  garrison.  It  was  not  to 
be  taken  without  a  struggle  ;  but  if  Washington  had 
followed  his  own  judgment,  General  Howe  would 
have  found  only  some  empty  works  to  occupy.  He 
decamped  from  the  front  of  the  American  army  in 
the  three  days  beginning  with  the  night  of  the  4th 
of  November.  The  rumbling  of  their  wagons  and 
artillery  wheels  reached  the  American  camp  and 
aroused  it  to  watchfulness  ;  but  when  the  day  dawned 
it  was  discovered  that  the  British  and  Hessians  were 
retreating  instead  of  advancing. 

It  was  not  possible  to  be  sure  of  their  intentions, 
but  Washington  made  haste  to  care  for  the  defences 
of  the  Hudson,  and  sent  word  to  General  Greene  to 
watch  all  indications  as  to  the  fort  and  other  works 
on  Harlem  Heights.  General  Greene  was  obstinately 
determined  to  hold  these,  and  sent  over  re-enforce¬ 
ments  when  the  enemy  began  to  threaten  them. 
The  fort  would  hold  but  a  thousand  men,  and  now 
there  were  two  thousand  more  helplessly  penned  in 
the  works  outside  of  it. 

Washington  left  Lee  in  command  of  the  troops  in 
the  fortified  camp  from  before  which  Howe  had 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


179 


moved  away.  On  the  10th  of  November  he  hurried 
to  the  forts  in  the  Hudson  Highlands,  and  while 
there  selected  West  Point  as  the  proper  place  for 
future  defensive  works  commanding  the  river.  In¬ 
formation  in  his  hands  led  him  to  believe  that  the 
British  meditated  a  movement  into  New  Jersey. 
He  also  knew  that  they  were  pressing  down  from 
the  north,  for  Arnold,  in  command  of  the  American 
flotilla  upon  Lake  Champlain,  had  been  defeated  by 
a  superior  force  and  driven  to  take  refuge  in  Fort 
Ticonderoga.  He  had  made  a  desperate  resistance, 
winning  a  better  name  than  ever  as  a  brave  and 
capable  commander.  Crown  Point  was  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  King’s  troops,  but  there  was  no  danger 
of  their  coming  any  farther  with  a  Northern  winter 
closing  in  upon  them.  They  must  wait  until  an¬ 
other  year  for  any  advance  from  that  direction,  and 
the  commander-in-chief  was  free  to  push  troops  for¬ 
ward  into  New  Jersey.  The  movement  of  an  army 
through  the  passes  of  the  Catskills,  after  crossing  the 
Hudson,  was  necessarily  slow  ;  and  Washington 
went  ahead  of  them,  to  the  shore  opposite  the  fort 
that  had  been  named  after  him.  Here,  at  Fort  Lee, 
he  met  General  Greene,  and  learned,  to  his  great 
sorrow,  that  more  troops  had  been  risked  upon 
Harlem  Heights,  and  that  the  enemy  were  investing 
them.  Pie  afterward  deeply  regretted  that  he  did 
not  order  the  immediate  withdrawal  of  every  man  ; 
but  he  yielded  to  the  earnestness  of  his  generals. 

On  the  15th  of  November  General  Howe  sum¬ 
moned  the  fort  to  surrender,  threatening  severe 
measures  in  case  of  resistance  ;  but  Colonel  Magaw, 


i So  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

in  command,  sent  back  a  courageous  refusal.  Wash¬ 
ington  was  not  at  Fort  Lee  when  this  news  came 
over  the  river.  It  was  near  night  when  he  rode  in 
from  a  tour  of  other  duties,  but  he  immediately 
hurried  into  a  boat  and  went  over  to  the  Heights. 
Greene  and  Putnam  were  already  there,  and  reported 
the  garrison  in  good  spirits,  ready  to  make  a  success¬ 
ful  defence.  So  strong  was  his  doubt  of  the  result, 
so  deep  were  his  forebodings,  that  he  became  exces¬ 
sively  excited)  and  it  required  all  their  efforts  to  get 
him  out  of  the  works  and  induce  him  to  return  to 
the  New  Jersey  shore. 

The  next  day,  at  noon,  the  attack  began  from  four 
different  directions  at  the  same  moment.  It  was  an 
assault  well  planned,  well  led,  well  sustained,  and 
the  brave  men  who  resisted  it  were  steadily  over¬ 
come  by  superior  force  at  every  point.  When  it 
was  too  late,  word  came  from  Washington  ordering 
Magaw  to  withdraw  his  men  ;  but  there  was  already 
a  flag  of  truce  in  the  fort  with  a  second  summons  to 
surrender,  and  further  resistance  was  impossible. 
The  general  had  watched  the  fight  through  a  tele¬ 
scope  from  the  opposite  shore.  He  had  seen  posi¬ 
tion  after  position  carried  by  the  enemy,  and  he  had 
seen  his  brave  fellows  bayoneted  pitilessly  by  Hes¬ 
sian  mercenaries  after  surrender,  and  while  asking 
quarter.  He  had  wept  like  a  child,  and  all  the  more 
bitterly  because  he  had  laid  himself  open  to  the  just 
reproach  of  General  Lee,  who  afterward  wrote  to 
him  : 

“  O  general,  why  would  you  be  over-persuaded  by 
men  of  inferior  judgment  to  your  own  !” 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  181 

The  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  men  was  severe, 
but  is  not  recorded  accurately.  General  Howe  re¬ 
ported  his  prisoners  at  2818,  and  his  own  loss  of 
nearly  a  thousand  men  shows  how  well  the  works 
were  defended. 

The  loss  in  guns  and  other  war  material  was  a  ter¬ 
rible  blow  to  the  American  cause,  but  the  worst 
hurt  of  all  was  the  effect  of  the  disaster  upon  the 
army  and  the  people.  The  new  troops  called  for  by 
Congress  had  not  yet  been  enlisted,  and  this  would 
make  men  more  slow  to  come  forward.  The  old 
regiments  were  disappearing  rapidly,  and  Washing¬ 
ton  wrote  to  his  brother  that  he  should  shortly  have 
but  two  thousand  men  on  the  New  Jersey  side  of 
the  river.  He  began  at  once  to  prepare  for  aban¬ 
doning  Fort  Lee,  as  no  longer  of  any  use,  but  be¬ 
fore  he  could  remove  his  heavy  materials,  the  Brit¬ 
ish  troops  under  Lord  Cornwallis  suddenly  crossed 
the  Hudson  River  above  him,  and  he  was  compelled 
to  march  away  in  a  hurry.  He  left  behind  him  his 
baggage  and  military  stores,  and  retreated  across  the 
Hackensack  just  in  time  to  avoid  being  captured, 
with  all  his  remaining  troops,  west  of  the  Hudson 
and  south  of  the  Highlands. 

It  was  a  sad  ending  of  the  campaign  for  the  pres¬ 
ervation  of  the  city  and  harbor  of  New  York,  and 
all  the  wise  men  who  had  argued  against  any  such 
attempt  laid  the  blame  of  both  the  defence  and  the 
failure  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  commander-in¬ 
chief. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


Directing  Chaos . —  The  Retreat  through  New  Jersey. 
—  The  Commander-in-Chief  made  Dictator . — Capt¬ 
ure  of  Lee.  —  Trenton  and  Princeton.  —  Winter 
Quarters. 

The  bitterest  hours  of  Washington’s  life  were  now 
upon  him  and  before  him.  Even  such  trusted  mem¬ 
bers  of  his  military  household  as  Colonel  Reed  were 
wavering  in  their  confidence,  and  General  Lee  openly 
criticised  his  generalship  as  undecided  and  inefficient. 
Hampered  as  he  had  been  by  the  authority  of  Con¬ 
gress,  by  the  separately  independent  action  of 
colonial  legislatures,  and  by  the  newness  and  ques¬ 
tionable  character  of  every  power  he  was  exercising, 
he  could  not  yet  do  the  things  which  became  as  a 
matter  of  course  at  a  later  day.  He  was  directing  a 
sort  of  chaos,  and  not  a  system  of  well-organized 
political  and  military  machinery.  A  large  part  of 
the  army  with  which  he  had  begun  the  campaign 
was  in  the  fortified  camp  in  Westchester  County, 
near  White  Plains.  Another  was  guarding  the 
Hudson  River  posts  in  the  Highlands.  He  ordered 
Lee  to  join  him  with  his  troops,  but  that  general 
now  obeyed  orders  very  slowly.  He  was  dreaming 
of  succeeding  Washington  in  the  supreme  command  ; 
but  no  such  disaster  as  that  was  in  store  for  America. 
There  were  no  indications  that  the  British  generals 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  183 

proposed  a  wintry  march  into  New  England,  or  far¬ 
ther  up  into  New  York.  They  were  too  wise  for 
any  such  blunder.  The  one  American  army  that  it 
was  necessary  for  them  to  destroy  was  right  here  be¬ 
fore  them,  in  New  Jersey,  between  them  and  the 
Continental  Congress.  If  this  mob  of  ragged  rebels, 
with  its  dangerous  commander,  could  be  done  away 
with,  they  felt  sure  of  being  soon  able  to  get  all  the 
colonies  once  more  under  the  absolute  control  of 
the  King  and  his  ministers. 

It  was  very  difficult  to  catch  George  Washington, 
as  General  Howe  had  already  discovered.  Not  for 
nothing  had  he  been  given  his  early  military  lessons 
among  red  Indians.  Lord  Cornwallis  pushed  for¬ 
ward  rapidly,  and  his  advance  was  often  within  shot 
of  the  American  rear-guard  ;  but  no  opportunity  was 
given  for  striking  a  hard  blow.  The  Passaic  and  the 
Raritan  were  left  behind  the  retreating  patriots,  and 
nearly  all  New  Jersey  was  in  the  hands  of  the  King’s 
troops.  The  British  and  Hessians  treated  the  in¬ 
habitants  with  a  brutality  that  turned  them  all  into 
red-hot  rebels,  and  such  a  discipline  was  very  need¬ 
ful  at  that  time,  for  many  of  them  had  been  luke¬ 
warm.  When  a  man’s  barn  is  burning  and  his  cattle 
are  being  driven  away,  his  opinions  become  very 
warm.  Tidings  of  all  outrages  went  far  and  wide 
through  the  colonies,  but  with  them  went  a  dis¬ 
heartening  rumor  that  Washington  was  not  the  man 
to  cope  with  the  King’s  generals.  Some  said  that 
Lee  had  shown  himself  vastly  the  better  leader,  and 
there  was  no  doubt  as  to  Lee’s  own  opinion.  Gen¬ 
eral  Gates  had  ambitious  views  of  his  own,  and  he 


184 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


almost  disobeyed  orders  in  hurrying  on  to  Philadel¬ 
phia  to  urge  his  ideas  upon  Congress. 

That  body  of  capable  men  replied  to  the  criticisms 
upon  Washington  decidedly.  They  removed  to 
Baltimore,  as  Philadelphia  was  no  longer  a  safe  place 
to  legislate  in,  and  they  passed  a  law  giving  the  com¬ 
mander-in-chief  power  “  To  order  and  direct  all 
things  relating  to  the  department  and  to  the  opera¬ 
tions  of  war.” 

They  had  learned  sharp  lessons  from  the  results 
of  their  previous  legislation  upon  army  movements 
and  strategy,  and,  like  sensible  men,  they  acknowl¬ 
edged  their  error,  made  Washington  almost  a  mili¬ 
tary  dictator,  and  adjourned.  He  used  his  powers 
with  energy,  but  he  could  not  compel  Lee  to  obey 
orders  and  join  him.  The  Delaware  had  been 
crossed  on  the  8th  of  December,  in  bitter  cold, 
through  cakes  of  floating  ice,  and  was  now  a  barrier 
behind  which  the  British  and  Hessians  could  be 
watched,  for  a  time,  with  better  security.  Lee's 
troops  were  greatly  needed,  however,  for  any  ag¬ 
gressive  movement,  and  they  were  soon  to  come. 
That  able  but  self-willed  commander  made  his  head¬ 
quarters  in  an  unprotected  farm-house,  and  was 
taken  prisoner  by  a  squad  of  British  cavalry.  They 
treated  him  with  needless  indignities  ;  but  General 
Sullivan  was  left  in  command,  and  he  pushed  for¬ 
ward  at  once  to  the  support  of  Washington. 

It  was  a  dark  time  for  the  cause  of  American 
liberty.  So  sure  were  the  enemy  that  the  power  of 
the  rebellion  was  broken  that,  on  the  30th  of  Novem¬ 
ber,  Lord  Howe  and  his  brother,  the  general,  had 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  1S5 

issued  a  proclamation  as  if  all  were  ended.  They 
commanded  all  persons  in  arms  against  the  Govern¬ 
ment  of  His  Majesty  King  George  the  Third  to  dis¬ 
band  and  go  home.  They  ordered  all  congresses  to 
cease  from  doing  treasonable  acts.  They  offered 
free  pardon  to  all  who  should  obey  within  fifty  days. 
There  were  those  within  the  British  lines,  especially 
rich  people,  who  formally  took  advantage  of  the 
pardon  offered,  and  were  sorry  for  it  afterward. 
The  Continental  Congress  went  on  with  its  treason¬ 
able  acts,  and  General  Washington  was  busily  pre¬ 
paring  his  own  reply.  Before  Lee  was  taken  pris¬ 
oner,  so  that  Sullivan  could  bring  the  re-enforce¬ 
ments,  Washington  asked  his  friend,  General  Mercer, 
of  Pennsylvania  :  “  What  think  you  ?  If  we  should 
retreat  to  the  back  parts  of  Pennsylvania,  would  the 
Pennsylvanians  support  us  ?” 

“  If  the  lower  counties  gave  up  the  back  counties 
would  do  the  same/’  said  General  Mercer,  sadly. 

"  We  must,  then,  retire  to  Augusta  County,  in 
Virginia/’ said  Washington.  “  Numbers  will  repair 
to  us  for  safety,  and  we  will  try  a  predatory  war.  If 
overpowered,  we  must  cross  the  Alleghan^s/’ 

No  thought  of  accepting  pardon  and  returning  to 
the  luxurious  repose  of  Mount  Vernon.  The  man 
the  country  was  trusting  was  preparing  to  retreat 
into  western  Virginia,  and  from  there  into  the  Ohio 
wilderness,  rather  than  surrender  the  liberties  he  was 
defending. 

With  the  arrival  of  Sullivan  he  had  at  his  disposal 
nearly  seven  thousand  men.  They  were  ill- fed,  ill- 
clad,  suffering.  Their  marches  through  the  snow 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


1 86 

could  be  tracked  by  the  blood  from  frost-cracked 
and  shoeless  feet.  Every  now  and  then  some  of 
them  lay  down  and  died  of  cold  and  fatigue  and 
hunger.  They  were  only  the  mere  wrecks  of  an 
army  ;  but  the  fact  that  they  were  there  at  all  testi¬ 
fied  to  the  other  fact  that  they  were  the  very  men 
to  strike  a  midwinter  blow  with. 

The  advanced  detachments  of  British  and  Hessian 
troops  stationed  along  the  Delaware  had  imbibed  an 
undue  contempt  for  the  remnant  of  an  army  which 
they  had  chased  all  the  way  from  the  Hudson. 
They  expected  soon  to  chase  it  farther,  and  many 
people  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  were  expecting 
their  arrival.  There  was  an  over-confident  careless¬ 
ness  in  their  guard-keeping  at  all  times,  but  Wash¬ 
ington  calculated  that  they  would  be  particularly 
careless  about  Christmas-time.  He  therefore  chose 
the  night  of  the  25th  of  December  for  a  secret  and 
sudden  attack.  He  divided  his  troops  to  cross  the 
Delaware  at  three  points,  but  the  divisions  under 
Generals  Ewing  and  Cadwallader  were  prevented  by 
the  extreme  cold  and  the  ice.  Only  the  main  body 
of  twenty-four  hundred  men,  under  Washington,  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  reaching  the  other  shore  and  carrying  out 
their  part  of  the  plan  of  operations.  They  advanced 
upon  the  Hessians  holding  Trenton  by  different 
roads,  and  closed  in,  with  a  complete  surprise,  at 
about  eight  o’clock  the  next  morning.  The  Ples- 
sians  made  a  stand  at  first,  but  found  themselves 
surrounded  they  could  hardly  tell  by  whom.  Their 
commander,  Colonel  Rahl,  fell,  mortally  wounded  ; 


WASHINGTON  CROSSING  THE  DELAWARE. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


187 


about  six  hundred  had  been  so  stationed  that  they 
escaped,  and  about  one  thousand  were  made  pris¬ 
oners. 

Large  bodies  of  the  enemy  were  too  near  for 
Washington  to  think  of  remaining  to  be  caught,  and 
he  recrossed  the  Delaware  with  his  prisoners  and 
booty  that  same  day. 

It  was  a  marvellously  inspiriting  victory.  No  less 
than  fourteen  hundred  of  Washington’s  barefooted 
heroes,  whose  terms  of  enlistment  were  expiring,  de¬ 
cided  to  remain  with  him  six  weeks  longer,  so  that 
he  might  strike  the  enemy  again.  New  recruits 
came  pouring  in  from  the  nearer  communities,  but 
their  general  had  determined  not  to  wait  for  more 
before  fighting  again. 

Lord  Cornwallis  had  felt  so  secure  as  to  the  com¬ 
pleteness  of  the  colonial  disasters,  that  he  was  at  this 
time  in  New  York,  on  the  point  of  sailing  for  Europe. 
Howe  was  awaiting  the  effect  of  his  pardon  procla¬ 
mation,  and  had  not  dreamed  of  a  sharp  winter  cam¬ 
paign. 

It  was  a  startling  thing  to  hear  of  a  sudden  dis¬ 
aster  like  this.  Lord  Cornwallis  hurried  back  to 
New  Jersey  in  time  to  learn  that  the  American  gen¬ 
eral  had  once  more  crossed  the  river.  On  the  28th 
of  December  Washington  had  the  second  time  en¬ 
tered  Trenton,  and  by  the  1st  of  January  had  five 
thousand  men  there  ;  but  they  were  still  inferior  to 
the  British  forces  now  advancing  to  attack  him 
under  Cornwallis.  They  were  in  full  sight,  on  the 
west  of  the  creek  running  through  the  town,  and  all 


1 88 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


day  of  the  2d  of  January  there  were  skirmishing  at¬ 
tempts  by  them  to  get  across.  There  was  a  brisk 
cannonading,  and  it  was  pretty  plain  that  the  enemy 
could  not  long  be  held  in  check  at  that  point.  If  a 
battle  were  to  be  fought  there,  with  the  Delaware 
behind  to  prevent  a  retreat  in  case  of  disaster, 
Washington  and  his  whole  army  might  be  captured. 
It  is  probable  that  Cornwallis  expected  nothing  less, 
for  the  trap  seemed  a  very  perfect  one.  Away  back 
in  the  Ohio  woods,  long  ago,  Washington  had  left 
his  camp  fire  burning  one  frosty  night  and  pushed 
on.  He  and  his  army  did  the  same  thing  now,  and 
when  Cornwallis  awoke  in  the  morning  his  prize  had 
departed.  He  followed  promptly,  but  could  not 
make  up  for  lost  time.  Washington  had  marched 
for  Princeton,  to  surprise  a  British  force  there  about 
equal  to  his  own  ;  but  it  was  already  in  motion  to 
join  Cornwallis,  and  the  surprise  was  incomplete. 
He  found  the  enemy  not  in  camp,  but  under  arms, 
and  the  contest  was  a  severe  one.  The  victory  for 
the  Americans  was  complete,  the  British  losing 
about  four  hundred  men  in  killed  and  wounded  and 
retreating.  The  patriot  loss  was  smaller  in  numbers, 
but  it  included  Washington’s  true  and  valued  friend, 
General  Mercer. 

The  vigorous  movements  of  the  British  generals, 
aroused  in  this  terrible  way  from  their  false  dream  of 
security,  made  further  offensive  operations  impos¬ 
sible  until  re-enforcements  should  gather.  The 
American  army  was  not  in  condition  to  risk  a  gen¬ 
eral  engagement  with  the  forces  now  gathered  under 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


189 


Cornwallis,  and  moved  rapidly  away  to  a  strong 
position  near  Morristown,  New  Jersey,  to  rest  and 
gather  strength.  It  was  a  rough  and  mountainous 
region,  easily  held,  and  the  selection  of  it  exhibited 
a  military  genius  up  to  that  time  denied  to  the  leader 
of  the  patriot  army. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


A  Sudden  Change. — The  New  Jersey  Rising. — The 
Small-pox  in  Camp. — Fighting  Immorality. — Com¬ 
ing  of  Lafayette. —  Try  on  s  Raid. — Jealousy  and 
Intrigue. 

Even  the  friends  of  America  in  England  had  at 
this  time  given  up  their  cause  as  lost,  and  the  Tory 
ministry  were  congratulating  themselves  upon  their 
swift  successes.  They  supposed  the  Atlantic  coast 
to  be  under  their  control,  for  a  naval  force  had  oc¬ 
cupied  the  island  of  Rhode  Island,  and  the  harbor 
of  New  York  was  a  perfect  centre  for  all  operations 
by  sea.  They  had  driven  the  Americans  out  of 
Canada  and  down  Lake  Champlain.  They  believed 
that  in  the  spring  they  could  easily  press  on  to  the 
Mohawk  Valley,  and  from  thence  push  through  the 
Hudson  River  country,  cutting  off  New  England  to 
be  conquered  at  leisure.  The  rebellious  colonists 
were  now,  as  they  supposed,  dissatisfied  with  their 
leader,  and  almost  without  an  army. 

Suddenly,  and  in  midwinter,  the' whole  situation 
had  undergone  a  change.  The  army  under  Corn¬ 
wallis  could  no  more  say  that  it  controlled  New 
Jersey,  and  Philadelphia  was  once  more  a  safe  town 
for  Congress  to  meet  in.  Washington  promptly 
made  use  of  all  the  men  he  had  who  were  fit  for 
active  service,  and  Lord  Cornwallis  was  forced  to 


GEORGE  IV A  SHING TON. 


191 

content  himself  with  holding  the  two  posts  of  Bruns¬ 
wick  and  Amboy. 

Now  came  the  consequences  of  the  hideously 
brutal  treatment  of  the  New  Jersey  farmers  by  the 
Hessian  mercenaries.  A  spirit  of  revenge  rose  to 
aid  the  spirit  of  patriotism.  The  angry  militia 
fought  savagely  on  their  own  account,  cutting  oif 
stragglers,  destroying  foraging  parties,  and  success¬ 
fully  assailing  even  considerable  detachments.  Such 
was  their  bitter  hatred  of  the  German  hirelings  of 
King  George  that  Lord  Cornwallis  was  compelled  to 
submit  to  what  must  have  been  to  him  a  severe 
humiliation.  He  had  to  write  a  letter  to  General 
Washington  requesting  safe  conduct  for  a  convoy  of 
the  recently  captured  prisoners  who  were  exchanged 
and  were  returning.  He  also  asked  if  money  and 
supplies  could  be  sent  to  the  Hessian  prisoners  taken 
at  Trenton,  and  a  surgeon  and  medicines  to  the 
wounded  British  and  others  in  the  hands  of  the 
Americans. 

Washington  replied  that  no  harm  would  be  done 
to  the  convoy  by  any  regular  troops  under  his  con¬ 
trol  ;  but  he  added  that  “  he  could  not  answer  for 
the  militia,  who  were  resorting  to  arms  in  most  parts 
of  the  State,  and  were  excessively  exasperated  at 
the  treatment  they  had  met  with  from  both  Hessian 
and  British  troops.” 

In  strong  contrast  to  the  wretched  policy  against 
which  he  protested,  the  American  leader  issued 
orders  for  the  protection  of  peaceable  Tories  and  for 
the  punishment  of  all  outrages  upon  them  or  their 
property.  He  also  issued  a  proclamation  to  balance 


192 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


that  of  Lord  Howe,  inviting  all  misguided  persons 
who  had  in  any  way  declared  their  allegiance  to  the 
British  crown  to  repair,  within  thirty  days,  to  the 
nearest  headquarters  of  any  general  officer  of  the 
American  army  or  of  the  militia,  and  there  to  take 
an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  giving 
up  any  protective  passport  or  other  paper  previously 
obtained  from  the  enemy.  The  proclamation  warned 
all  who  should  neglect  to  comply  with  it  that  they 
would  thenceforth  be  treated  as  common  enemies  ; 
and  that  meant  a  great  deal  in  the  existing  temper 
of  the  people. 

There  was  one  trouble  in  the  patriot  camp  which 
could  not  be  reached  by  a  proclamation.  The  small¬ 
pox  had  broken  out  as  an  epidemic,  and  a  thorough 
inoculation  was  at  once  ordered.  The  general  was 
proof  against  the  disease,  from  his  early  experience 
in  the  West  Indies  ;  but  he  earned  a  new  title  to  the 
affection  of  his  men  by  his  personal  attention  to  the 
sick.  He  gave  himself  up  entirely  to  the  care  of  his 
soldiers,  and  there  was  something  stronger  than  pay 
or  discipline  given  to  induce  them  to  follow  wher¬ 
ever  he  should  lead.  He  fought  hard  against  every 
appearance  of  vice  or  immorality,  forbidding  all 
games  of  chance,  urging  the  regimental  chaplains  to 
do  their  duty,  and  calling  upon  all  general  officers  to 
encourage  the  men  in  a  regular  attendance  upon 
public  worship. 

The  winter  campaign  had  ended  in  putting  the 
colonial  cause  in  fine  shape  for  the  longer  and  harder 
one  that  was  to  come  ;  but  no  large  operations  could 
be  undertaken  until  what  was  almost  a  new  army 
should  be  gathered. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


J93 


Congress  was  again  in  session  at  Philadelphia,  and 
was  devising  ways  and  means  for  the  prosecution  of 
the  war.  It  was  also  endeavoring,  through  Ben¬ 
jamin  Franklin,  to  induce  the  King  of  France  to 
seize  upon  so  good  an  opportunity  for  getting  even 
with  Great  Britain  for  the  loss  of  the  Canadas  and 
the  Ohio  country.  The  first  success  in  France  did 
not  include  the  King  and  his  army  or  navy,  but  it 
sent  over  some  brave  volunteers,  headed  by  the 
Marquis  de  Lafayette.  This  young  nobleman,  early 
in  the  spring,  fitted  out  a  ship  at  his  own  expense, 
and  came  over  to  offer  his  services,  without  pay,  in 
the  cause  of  freedom,  and  to  make  his  name  forever 
dear  to  a  great  nation.  Toward  the  last  of  April 
Tryon,  the  old  royal  Governor  of  New  York,  landed 
on  the  shore  of  Connecticut  with  two  thousand 
British  troops  and  Tories.  He  pushed  inland  far 
enough  to  wantonly  burn  the  town  of  Danbury, 
with  the  military  stores  collected  there,  and  his  men 
committed  savage  atrocities  upon  the  defenceless 
inhabitants.  He  should  have  remembered  Lexing¬ 
ton,  for  the  militia  rose  around  him,  under  Generals 
Arnold,  Silliman,  and  Wooster,  and  he  with  difficulty 
regained  his  ships,  leaving  three  hundred  killed, 
wounded,  and  prisoners  behind  him.  He  aided 
greatly  in  keeping  the  spirit  of  the  New  England 
militia  up  to  the  war  point,  and  they  manifested 
their  unflinching  determination  in  daring  enterprises 
in  several  different  directions. 

Yet  another  burden  lay  heavily  on  the  hearts  of 
Congress,  the  people,  and  their  patient  general  : 
from  the  jails  within  the  British  lines,  from  the 


194 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


prison-ships  in  New  York  harbor,  from  brave,  hot¬ 
headed  Ethan  Allen,  shut  up  as  a  felon,  and  from 
General  Lee,  in  peril  of  trial  as  a  deserter,  came  ap¬ 
peals  for  sympathy  and  for  rescue.  Congress  passed 
acts  providing  for  retaliation,  some  of  them  so  severe 
that  Washington  protested  against  them.  Irrespon¬ 
sible  partisans  and  bands  of  militia  retaliated  piti¬ 
lessly  upon  Tories  and  upon  Hessian  prisoners. 
Washington  wrote  to  General  Howe,  temperately 
but  decidedly,  urging  upon  him  the  claims  of 
humanity.  In  reply,  Sir  William  denied  the  impu¬ 
tation  of  cruelty,  probably  not  taking  the  trouble  to 
thoroughly  inform  himself,  and  there  was  but  little 
change  for  the  better.  It  is  greatly  to  Washing¬ 
ton's  credit  that  he  made  repeated  and  especial  ef¬ 
forts  on  behalf  of  General  Lee,  although  he  was  now 
better  aware  than  before  of  the  erratic  course  pur¬ 
sued  by  his  old  subordinate.  An  exchange  of  pris¬ 
oners  was  effected  to  a  certain  extent,  but  the  bal¬ 
ance,  in  numbers  and  rank,  was  sadly  against  the 
Americans  ;  and  the  time  for  the  release  of  Allen 
and  Lee  had  not  yet  come.  It  was  a  curious  fact 
that  the  British  overestimated  his  importance  very 
much,  as  he  himself  had  done.  They  began  to 
care  less  about  keeping  him,  as  they  now  discov¬ 
ered  that  the  rebel  army  could  fight  very  well  with¬ 
out  him.  The  military  genius  of  America  had  not 
been  captured  with  him,  as  the  winter  campaign 
testified. 

During  nearly  the  entire  spring  the  main  busi¬ 
ness  of  the  commander-in-chief  related  to  enlist¬ 
ments,  and  he  sent  off  every  officer  he  could  spare 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


J95 

upon  recruiting  duty.  He  commanded  them  to 
give  especial  attention  to  “old  soldiers,”  for  he 
wanted  as  many  as  possible  who  had  already  faced 
the  King’s  troops.  He  was  forced  to  deal  once 
more  with  the  jealousies  and  local  needs  of  the  sev¬ 
eral  colonies,  and  to  contend  with  rivalries  among 
ambitious  generals.  Nowhere  did  this  latter  diffi¬ 
culty  threaten  greater  danger  than  in  New  York, 
where  General  Schuyler  was  still  annoyed  by  the  old 
questions  relating  to  the  extent  of  his  authority. 
There  was  reason  to  expect  that  the  enemy  would 
make  a  movement  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain,  and 
one  of  their  first  signs  of  life  was  a  naval  expedition 
up  the  Hudson  to  destroy  some  boats  and  stores. 
It  accomplished  nothing,  but  was  regarded  as  a  token 
of  greater  efforts  to  follow. 

As  for  Washington’s  own  immediate  command, 
in  New  Jersey,  he  expressed  his  belief  that  he  was 
unassailed  mainly  because  the  British  generals  did 
not  know  how  really  weak  he  was. 

The  course  of  events  had  made  General  Schuyler 
a  delegate  in  Congress,  and  while  he  was  on  his  way 
to  take  his  seat  and  to  ask  for  an  investigation  of 
his  military  conduct,  General  Horatio  Gates  suc¬ 
ceeded  at  last  in  obtaining  from  Congress,  and  not 
from  Washington,  the  command  of  the  troops  in  New 
York.  It  is  worth  noting,  as  so  different  from  the 
present  way  of  doing,  that  Schuyler,  in  Philadelphia, 
as  a  Member  of  Congress,  was  still  the  major-general 
next  in  rank  to  Washington,  and  took  command  of 
all  troops  in  the  city.  At  this  day  no  man  can  hold 
two  such  positions  at  the  same  time  ;  but  General 


196 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


Schuyler  rendered  excellent  service  as  a  military  ad¬ 
viser  of  Congress. 

There  were  many  reasons  why  all  Europe  should 
take  an  interest  in  the  struggle  for  American  inde¬ 
pendence.  It  involved  consequences  which  resulted, 
shortly,  in  an  entire  change  of  European  affairs. 
Other  genuine  patriots  were  coming  to  help  the 
cause  of  liberty  beside  Lafayette.  Among  them, 
from  time  to  time,  were  Kosciuszko,  Steuben, 
Pulaski,  De  Kalb,  and  others  as  sincere  ;  but  with 
these  came  a  lot  of  mere  military  adventurers,  sol¬ 
diers  of  fortune,  with  high  pretensions  and  little 
merit,  and  it  was  not  always  easy  to  decide  what  to 
do  or  not  to  do  with  them.  Some  received  appoint¬ 
ments  which  had  better  have  been  given  to  better 
men.  At  all  events,  the  army  was  reorganizing  upon 
a  better  basis,  and  there  was  now  no  danger  but 
what  it  would  be  ready  to  give  the  King’s  troops 
abundant  employment  during  the  summer  campaign. 
Among  the  new  regiments  was  one  that  imitated  the 
English  fashion,  and  called  itself  “  The  Congress’ 
Own,”  until  Congress  passed  a  resolution  forbidding 
it.  Another  named  itself  “  General  Washington’s 
Life  Guard,”  and  this  was  also  covered  by  the  same 
resolution  ;  but  both  had  already  been  corrected  by 
the  general  himself.  His  experience  in  New  York, 
when  one  of  his  own  body-guard  proved  a  traitor  and 
was  hanged  for  it,  led  him  now  to  order  a  careful 
selection  of  a  company  for  special  duty  at  his  head¬ 
quarters,  under  Colonel  Alexander  Spotswood. 
There  were  restrictions  as  to  the  size  of  the  men, 
but  none  as  to  their  nationality  ;  and  no  more  than 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


197 


four  were  to  be  taken  from  one  regiment,  so  that  all 
the  colonies  should  be  properly  represented. 

The  question  of  army  rank  was  at  this  time  taken 
up  by  Congress  in  a  way  that  perplexed  the  com¬ 
mander-in-chief  and  brought  about  serious  conse¬ 
quences.  They  made  a  new  list  of  major-generals, 
and  left  out  the  name  of  Benedict  Arnold.  Wash¬ 
ington  made  at  once  a  strong  appeal  to  have  the 
matter  corrected,  for  Arnold  had  fairly  earned  his 
promotion  ;  but  it  was  too  late.  Arnold’s  pride  was 
severely  stung,  and  although  he  wrote  to  his  com¬ 
mander  patriotically,  subsequent  events  showed  that 
he  had  been  hurt  too  deeply  to  forget  or  forgive.  It 
was  after  this  that  he  distinguished  himself  by  his 
courage  and  good  conduct  in  repelling  Tryon’s  ex¬ 
pedition  into  Connecticut.  He  behaved  brilliantly 
well,  and  now  Congress  made  him  a  major-general  ; 
but  again,  in  spite  of  Washington’s  protest,  he  was 
put  at  the  bottom  of  the  list.  They  voted  him  a 
horse  in  place  of  one  that  was  killed  under  him  in 
the  fight,  but  they  left  him  with  a  bitter  feeling  that 
he  had  been  treated  with  rank  injustice.  It  gave 
him  no  excuse  for  wrong-doing,  but  it  is  not  every 
man  who  has  the  deep  moral  worth  to  endure  like 
Washington  or  Schuyler. 

The  Congressional  inquiry  into  the  conduct  of  the 
latter  patriot  resulted  in  placing  his  reputation  higher 
than  it  ever  before  had  been  ;  but  the  question  be¬ 
tween  him  and  General  Gates  of  rank  and  command 
was  left  as  badly  off  as  ever.  The  personal  ambition 
of  Gates  was  fast  getting  the  better  of  his  judgment. 
Like  Lee,  at  an  earlier  day,  he  imagined  himself  the 


198 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


right  man  to  take  the  place  now  occupied  by  Wash¬ 
ington.  He  saw  before  him  an  independent  com¬ 
mand  and  fame  as  general  of  “  the  Army  of  the 
North.  ”  His  letters  to  the  commander-in-chief  grew 
even  disrespectful,  and  his  friends  in  and  near  Con¬ 
gress  set  on  foot  a  series  of  intrigues  which  after¬ 
ward  came  very  near  to  bringing  on  irreparable  dis¬ 
asters.  Believing  himself  to  be  more  influential  with 
that  body  than  he  really  was,  as  soon  as  General 
Schuyler  reached  Albany,  with  orders  which  showed 
that  he  was  still  the  ranking  officer  of  that  depart¬ 
ment,  General  Gates  hurried  away  to  Philadelphia  to 
lay  his  grievances  before  the  national  legislature. 
He  displayed  both  heat  of  temper  and  arrogance, 
but  he  succeeded  in  enabling  us  to  understand  that 
Congress  itself  contained  many  good  men  who  dis¬ 
trusted  the  military  capacity  of  the  commander-in¬ 
chief,  and  who  were  jealous  of  the  vast  power  now 
in  his  hands.  Events  now  before  them  were  likely 
to  deepen  this  feeling  rather  than  to  lessen  it. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


Burgoyne  s  Army . — Loss  of  Ticonderoga. — Indians  as 
Recruiting  Agents. — Battles  of  Bennington  and 
Oriskany.  — Stillwater  and  Saratoga ,  and  the  Sur¬ 
render  of  Burgoyne. 

Much  attention  was  given  to  the  strengthening 
of  the  fortifications  guarding  the  passage  of  the 
Hudson,  but  some  bad  mistakes  were  made.  The 
command  of  the  troops  stationed  there  was  offered 
to  Arnold,  but  he  preferred  one  that  he  had  already 
received,  of  forces  at  and  near  Philadelphia.  Put¬ 
nam  was  therefore  placed  in  charge  of  all  the  forts, 
and  at  once,  under  Washington's  direction,  began 
to  plan  a  dash  through  the  enemy's  lines  for  the  re¬ 
capture  of  Fort  Independence,  at  Spuyten  Duyvil 
Creek  ;  but  the  immediate  movements  of  the  enemy 
compelled  him  to  give  it  up. 

It  was  high  time  for  the  British  to  do  something. 
They  had  been  strongly  re-enforced  by  German  mer¬ 
cenaries  and  other  troops,  and  were  vastly  superior 
to  their  opponents  in  all  equipments  for  the  battle¬ 
field. 

On  the  31st  of  May  Washington  learned  that  a 
fleet  of  one  hundred  ships  had  sailed  away  from  New 
York.  He  could  only  guess  at  what  point  on  the 
Atlantic  coast  they  meant  to  land  troops.  He  made 


200 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


every  preparation  in  his  power  to  meet  an  attempt 
upon  Philadelphia,  but  General  Howe  added  to  his 
perplexities  a  few  days  later. 

He  marched  from  his  lines,  at  Brunswick,  New 
Jersey,  on  the  13th  of  June,  and  no  man  could  tell 
whether  he  was  on  his  way  to  Philadelphia  or  was 
trying  to  draw  the  “  rebels"  out  from  their  strong 
positions.  The  armies  watched  each  other  for  four 
days,  as  if  each  were  waiting  for  the  other  to  make 
a  blunder.  Both  refused  to  do  so,  and  there  was 
no  battle  fought. 

The  British  general  moved  away  toward  New  York 
in  the  hope  that  he  would  be  rashly  followed,  and 
burned  houses  as  he  went  to  disturb  the  hot  temper 
of  the  man  who  was  watching  him.  He  was  fol¬ 
lowed,  but  not  rashly,  and  he  gained  nothing  but 
three  cannon  captured  in  a  skirmish  with  Stirling's 
brigade.  Having  utterly  failed  to  bring  on  a  gen¬ 
eral  action,  he  gave  the  matter  up,  moved  his  army 
to  Staten  Island,  and  left  New  Jersey  in  the  undis¬ 
puted  possession  of  the  American  army. 

It  was  all  a  puzzle  until  word  came  from  the  north 
that  General  Burgoyne  was  coming  down  Lake 
Champlain  with  the  entire  British  army  in  Canada, 
and  was  already  nearing  Fort  Ticonderoga.  It  was 
hardly  an  exaggeration,  although  troops  enough  had 
been  left  to  hold  the  Canadas.  Burgoyne  had  with 
him  3724  British  regulars,  3016  Germans,  250  Cana¬ 
dians  and  400  Indians,  and  473  artillerymen.  With 
the  latter  came  the  finest  train  of  brass  field-pieces 
ever  yet  given,  it  was  said,  to  an  army  of  that  size. 
There  was  also  an  amount  of  baggage  that  had  not 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


201 


been  exceeded  by  any  British  army  in  America  since 
Braddock’s  campaign. 

Burgoyne’s  plan  included  a  side  expedition  for 
the  capture  of  Oswego,  the  rousing  of  Indians  and 
Tories,  and  the  ravaging  of  the  Mohawk  Valley. 
When  the  news  of  his  advance  reached  Washington, 
General  Schuyler  was  already  at  Ticonderoga.  He 
exerted  himself,  there  and  elsewhere,  to  get  all  things 
in  readiness  for  a  stand  ;  but  there  was  not  yet  quite 
enough  to  get  ready  with.  Neither  was  he  quite 
certain  whether  Burgoyne  did  not  intend  to  leave 
Ticonderoga  on  his  right,  and  move  away  eastward 
to  reconquer  New  England  ;  and  so  he  wrote  to 
Washington.  He  had  great  doubt  as  to  his  ability 
to  hold  Ticonderoga,  but  General  St.  Clair,  in  com¬ 
mand  of  it,  had  none  whatever.  The  works  were 
strong,  the  garrison  in  good  spirits  ;  Burgoyne’s  ap¬ 
proaches,  after  he  passed  Crown  Point,  were  so  slow 
that  there  was  time  for  much  to  be  done.  The 
proclamation  of  threats  and  pardon  issued  by  the 
British  general  as  he  drew  near  was  a  matter  of 
course,  and  hurt  no  one.  So  were  his  speeches  to 
the  Indian  chiefs  who  came  to  see  him  and  hold 
grand  councils,  for  he  advised  them  not  to  scalp  men 
or  be  cruel  in  war.  All  appeared  to  be  going  well  ; 
and  yet,  one  fine  morning,  General  Washington  re¬ 
ceived  tidings  that  St.  Clair  and  his  forces  had 
evacuated  Ticonderoga.  It  was  a  greater  puzzle 
than  the  retreat  of  Howe  until  the  explanation  came. 
There  was  a  rugged  eminence  called  Sugar  Hill 
which  had  been  neglected,  partly  because  it  was  be¬ 
lieved  to  be  out  of  cannon  range  and  partly  because 


202 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


it  seemed  to  be  inaccessible.  It  was  neither.  The 
British  engineers  cut  a  road  through  the  woods  and 
rocks,  and  hauled  cannon  up  the  steep  side  of  Sugar 
Hill,  and  there  was  no  longer  any  use  for  Ticon- 
deroga.  Shot  and  shell  could  be  poured  down  into 
it  all  day  long.  It  was  a  triumph  of  war-engineer¬ 
ing,  and  it  was  an  excellent  thing  for  the  cause  of 
American  liberty.  It  drew  Burgoyne  on  into  the 
woods  to  turn  over  his  elegant  brass  cannon  to  the 
Continentals.  The  retreat  of  the  Americans  from 
Ticonderoga  was  a  night  affair,  and  was  well  planned, 
but  was  discovered  by  the  British  before  all  were 
in  safety.  A  sharp  pursuit  resulted  in  further 
damage  and  loss,  to  add  to  the  discouragement  of 
the  seeming  disaster  caused  by  the  guns  on  Sugar 
Hill. 

The  worst  part  of  the  loss  was  in  guns,  ammuni¬ 
tion,  military  stores,  and  so  forth  accumulated  at 
Ticonderoga,  and  all  now  in  the  hands  of  Burgoyne. 
Other  posts  in  the  vicinity  were  abandoned,  the  peo¬ 
ple  of  Albany  began  even  to  pack  up  furniture  to  re¬ 
move  it,  while  the  country  people  looked  forward  to 
the  desolation  to  come  from  the  merciless  Hessians. 
Consternation  was  in  all  the  homes  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  now  so  known  for  the  first  time,  while 
the  British  army,  elated  by  their  easy  success,  be¬ 
lieved  that  little  more  than  a  triumphant  march  was 
before  them.  There  was  much  more,  as  they  were 
soon  to  learn,  for  Washington  was  sending  Schuyler 
all  the  help  and  encouragement  in  his  power,  at  the 
same  time  that  he  was  trying  to  solve  another  British 
mystery.  The  fleet  under  Lord  Howe,  the  move- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


203 


ments  of  which,  in  and  out  of  harbor,  had  been 
watched  so  long,  was  again  reported  at  sea.  An 
effort  was  made  to  cheat  Washington  into  the  belief 
that  it  had  gone  to  Boston,  but  it  only  sent  him  and 
his  army  toward  Philadelphia.  Pie  had  already  sent 
Arnold  to  Schuyler,  and  General  Gates  was  in  com¬ 
mand  at  that  city.  The  perplexity  of  the  situation 
was  increased  by  the  fact  that  even  after  Lord 
Howe’s  fleet  appeared  off  the  capes  of  the  Delaware 
and  was  counted  from  the  shore,  two  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  sail,  it  tacked  away  again. 

The  friends  of  General  Gates  in  Congress  had 
urged  Washington  to  put  him  in  command  in  New 
York,  after  the  loss  of  Ticonderoga,  but  he  had  de¬ 
clined  interfering  with  General  Schuyler.  Then 
Congress  took  the  matter  out  of  his  hands,  and  Gates 
obtained  the  object  of  his  ambition.  It  was  almost, 
in  his  eyes,  as  if  he  had  been  made  independent  of 
the  commander-in-chief,  with  a  fair  prospect  of  soon 
succeeding  him.  Congress  also  undertook  to  remodel 
the  Commissary  Department  of  the  army,  and  threw 
it  into  utter  confusion  for  the  whole  year.  What 
they  might  do  next  was  often  as  great  a  problem  as 
were  the  movements  of  Lord  Howe. 

Still  further  strengthening  the  Hudson  forts, 
Washington  now  sent  to  the  northern  army  the  regi¬ 
ment  of  picked  sharpshooters  under  Colonel  Morgan. 
If  there  were  to  be  Indians  to  fight  in  the  New  York 
campaign,  these  were  the  men  to  do  it.  The  sturdy 
patriots  of  the  New  Hampshire  Grants  (now  Ver¬ 
mont)  had  also  been  aroused,  under  Lincoln  and 
Stark,  to  threaten  Burgoyne’s  left  flank.  Whatever 


204 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


Washington’s  opinion  may  have  been  of  General 
Gates,  he  did  not  fail  to  stand  by  him. 

The  Marquis  de  Lafayette  now  held  an  honorary 
commission  as  major-general  in  the  American  army. 
He  had  not  yet  been  assigned  to  any  command,  but 
was  a  member  of  Washington’s  household,  and  be¬ 
tween  them  was  growing  fast  the  friendship  that  was 
afterward  so  genuinely  beautiful.  Lafayette  now 
rode  by  the  side  of  the  general  at  the  head  of  the 
army  in  a  grand  parade  march  through  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  There  had  been  many  signs  of  dis¬ 
affection  there.  The  Tory  element  was  strong,  and 
the  intrigues  in  and  about  Congress  directed  against 
the  commander-in-chief  had  made  matters  worse. 
The  parade  had  a  distinct  object,  therefore,  and  the 
troops  were  ordered  to  make  their  best  appearance. 
It  was  soldierly  enough  in  everything  but  uniforms, 
and  every  man  wore  a  sprig  of  green  in  such  a  hat 
as  he  might  have  to  make  up  for  the  defects  of  his 
regimentals.  The  unpatriotic  part  of  the  population 
of  Philadelphia  were  thoroughly  awed  before  the 
long  columns  all  went  by  and  the  sound  of  the 
drums  died  away,  as  Washington  and  his  men 
marched  on  to  seek  the  enemy. 

Early  in  July  the  British  army  under  Burgoyne 
had  advanced  as  far  as  what  is  now  Whitehall,  New 
York.  It  was  then  Skenesborough,  named  from  its 
landed  proprietor,  Major  Skene,  a  Tory  whom  Bur¬ 
goyne  at  once  took  into  his  councils.  The  Tories 
generally  of  New  York  were  in  a  high  state  of  exul¬ 
tation,  and  flocked  in  as  a  considerable  re-enforce¬ 
ment.  Burgoyne’s  forces  were  increasing  instead  of 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


205 


diminishing,  but  the  road  before  him  to  the  Hudson 
was  one  that  opened  slowly,  in  spite  of  a  large 
amount  of  hard  work.  His  vast  baggage  and  his 
artillery  worked  in  favor  of  Gates  and  Schuyler  and 
Arnold,  while  Washington  expressed  his  own  opinion 
that  the  invading  army  was  pushing  on  to  sure  ruin. 
The  attempt  to  employ  the  Indians  and  at  the  same 
time  restrain  them  resulted  as  might  have  been  ex¬ 
pected.  Their  first  atrocities,  notably  the  cruel  mur¬ 
der  of  a  beautiful  young  girl  named  McCrea,  were 
reported  from  fireside  to  fireside  to  stir  the  blood  of 
all  men.  It  was  as  if  the  war-whoop  had  been  heard 
by  the  settlers,  and  they  poured  into  the  American 
camp,  rifle  in  hand.  Burgoyne’s  Indians  were  the 
best  recruiting  officers  in  the  world,  and  brought 
angry  men  from  the  very  coasts  of  New  England  to 
the  camps  in  Vermont  and  New  York.  Schuyler 
fell  back  to  Stillwater,  about  thirty  miles  from 
Albany,  as  Burgoyne  advanced.  It  is  to  the  credit 
of  the  British  general  that  when  he  found  what  his 
red  allies  would  surely  do,  he  refused  to  employ 
them  any  longer.  They  had  already  done  him  all 
the  harm  they  could,  and  he  sent  them  away. 

The  force  sent  out  as  a  part  of  Burgoyne’s  plan  to 
come  down  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk  had  been  hav¬ 
ing  a  hard  time.  It  had  vainly  besieged  Fort  Stan- 
wix,  now  called  Fort  Schuyler,  and  it  had  fought 
the  savage  fight  known  as  the  battle  of  Oriskany, 
where  the  patriot  General  Herkimer  and  about  two 
hundred  militia  were  killed,  and  an  equal  number  of 
British  regulars  and  Indians.  Colonel  St.  Leger,  in 
command  of  the  expedition,  found  his  red  men  un- 


206 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


manageable,  and  when  General  Arnold  approached, 
with  a  force  sent  by  Schuyler,  to  relieve  the  fort, 
they  deserted  him  so  fast  that  he  was  compelled  to 
retreat,  with  the  loss  of  all  he  had  in  camp.  Arnold 
obtained  well-earned  praise  for  his  good  manage¬ 
ment,  but  Burgoyne's  hopes  had  already  received 
even  a  severer  blow  on  his  left.  He  had  sent  off  a 
force  of  five  hundred  Germans,  under  Colonel  Baum, 
with  another  detachment  following,  under  Colonel 
Breyman,  as  a  re-enforcement,  to  seize  a  depot  of 
stores  and  provisions  at  Bennington.  Baum  was 
defeated  by  General  Stark  and  his  Green  Mountain 
Boys,  and  the  re-enforcements  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Seth  Warner.  The  loss  to  Burgoyne  in  killed, 
wounded,  and  prisoners  was  about  seven  hundred 
men,  and  he  was  more  than  ever  at  a  loss  to  know 
how  he  should  obtain  provisions  for  his  army. 

Schuyler  was  behaving  nobly,  disobeying  a  resolu¬ 
tion  of  Congress  in  order  that  he  might  remain  be¬ 
fore  the  enemy  ;  he  held  all  things  in  readiness  for 
Gates  to  reap  a  harvest  of  fame  which  did  not  fully 
belong  to  him.  Gates  came  and  took  hold  of  the 
forces  made  ready  for  him  with  energy.  Early  in 
September  Burgoyne  advanced  and  crossed  the  Hud¬ 
son  to  Saratoga,  and  on  the  18th  he  was  within  two 
miles  of  the  American  camp  at  Stillwater.  The  next 
day  began  with  skirmishing  that  ended  in  a  hard- 
fought,  drawn  battle.  The  losses  were  in  favor  of 
the  Americans,  and  Burgoyne  could  do  no  better 
than  to  entrench  himself  and  wait  for  a  result  that 
was  sure  to  come.  Every  hour  thenceforth  must 
make  him  weaker  and  his  opponent  stronger,  for  his 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


207 


advance  had  been  checked,  and  his  momentum  was 
lost.  Retreat  was  impossible.  It  was  in  vain  to 
send  letters  to  General  Clinton,  in  New  York, 
urging  him  to  make  a  diversion  up  the  Hudson  that 
would  force  Gates  to  divide  his  army.  It  was  in 
vain  to  hope  for  help  from  Canada,  for  a  detachment 
of  Yankees,  under  Colonel  Brown,  had  retaken  old 
Fort  Ticonderoga,  setting  free  a  hundred  Americans 
and  capturing  three  hundred  prisoners,  an  armed 
sloop,  some  gun-boats  and  bateaux.  The  British 
still  held  their  new  works,  and  the  attacking  party 
retreated  in  triumph.  Clinton  did  indeed  make  his 
promised  movement  up  the  Hudson,  and  he  cap¬ 
tured  Forts  Clinton  and  Montgomery  after  a  hard 
fight  ;  but  he  was  too  late.  He  should  have  been 
there  thirty  days  earlier.  News  came  to  him  from 
the  north  that  sent  him  back  to  New  York. 

Burgoyne  discovered  at  last  that  he  must  cut  his 
way  through  or  starve.  His  Canadians,  Indians,  and 
Tories  were  drifting  away  from  a  camp  in  which  the 
rations  were  cutting  down.  On  the  7th  of  October, 
therefore,  he  brought  upon  himself  a  second  general 
engagement,  known  as  the  battle  of  Saratoga, 
and  was  severely  defeated.  He  fell  back  to  a  strong 
position,  while  the  victorious  Americans  occupied 
his  camp.  He  found  all  paths  of  escape  blocked 
against  him,  and  gave  it  up  as  a  ruined  expedition, 
and  surrendered  on  the  17th  of  the  month.  His 
force  was  reduced  to  5752  men,  and  with  these  he 
turned  over  his  fine  train  of  brass  artillery,  seven  thou¬ 
sand  stand  of  arms,  and  all  the  baggage  and  military 
stores  which  had  so  dreadfully  encumbered  his  army. 


208 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


It  was  a  magnificent  victory  for  the  cause  of 
American  freedom,  but  no  great  part  of  it  was  due 
to  General  Gates,  who  took  to  himself  the  lion's 
share  of  the  glory.  Much  belonged  to  Arnold,  with 
whom  Gates  quarrelled  from  the  day  of  taking 
command.  More  was  fairly  the  meed  of  General 
Schuyler,  without  whose  patriotic  efforts  there 
would  have  been  no  victory  whatever.  The  rest  had 
been  done  by  Burgoyne  and  his  Indians  in  arousing 
the  people  to  such  a  heat  that  on  the  day  of  the  sur¬ 
render  Gates  had  under  him  more  than  ten  thousand 
men  actually  fit  for  duty. 


CHAPTER  XXL 


The  Campaign  to  Save  Philadelphia. — The  Battle  of 
the  Brandyzvine. —  The  British  Army  Occupy  the 
City. — The  Battle  of  Germantozvn. — Forts  Mercer 
and  Mifflin. — The  Conzvay  Cabal. —  Winter  Quar¬ 
ters  at  Valley  Forge . 

During  all  the  time  in  which  Burgoyne  was  push¬ 
ing  forward  to  the  place  where  he  was  to  surrender, 
General  Howe  had  pushed  with  much  greater  vigor 
that  part  of  the  British  plan  of  operations  which  he 
had  kept  in  his  own  hands.  Washington  had  read 
the  plan  rightly,  for  its  aim  was  Philadelphia.  Gen¬ 
eral  Howe  began  to  land  his  troops  on  the  25th  of 
August,  1777,  at  a  place  about  six  miles  below  Head 
of  Elk,  on  Chesapeake  Bay.  He  was  about  seventy 
miles  from  Philadelphia,  but  had  no  such  wilderness 
to  march  through  as  that  which  was  ruining  Bur¬ 
goyne. 

Washington  was  at  once  informed  of  the  landing, 
and  pushed  forces  forward  so  promptly  as  to  save 
some  army  stores  that  had  been  left  at  Head  of 
Elk.  While  riding  swiftly  hither  and  thither,  to 
learn  better  the  nature  of  the  country  he  was  to 
fight  in,  he  gave  an  exposition  of  the  terrible  excite¬ 
ment  he  was  under,  and  of  how  utterly  he  had  for¬ 
gotten  himself  in  his  devotion  to  his  country. 
Lafayette  and  General  Greene  were  with  him,  and 


210 


GEORGE  IV A  SUING  TON. 


they  had  ridden  within  two  miles  of  the  enemy’s 
lines  when  a  storm  drove  them  into  a  farm-house  for 
shelter.  Night  was  near,  and  it  was  still  storming. 
His  companions  urged  him  to  ride  away,  lest  some 
scouting  party  of  the  enemy  should  take  him,  as 
General  Lee  had  been  taken.  He  stubbornly  re¬ 
fused  to  go,  thinking  only  of  the  reconnoitring  he 
had  done,  and  more  that  he  meant  to  do  next  day. 
It  was  not  until  daylight  that  they  could  get  him  to 
confess  his  great  imprudence,  and  gallop  away  to  a 
place  of  safety. 

Howe  was  again  wiser  than  Burgoyne,  for  when 
he  learned  that  all  the  inhabitants  were  in  a  state  of 
alarm,  moving  away  their  goods  and  cattle,  in  dread 
of  such  terrors  of  war  as  they  knew  had  been,  he  at 
once  issued  a  proclamation  assuring  them  of  protec¬ 
tion  and  of  the  strictest  good  conduct  on  the  part 
of  his  army.  It  had  also  a  promise  of  pardon  in 
it,  and  it  sent  no  swarms  of  angry  volunteers  into 
the  American  camp. 

There  were  many  reasons  why  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  for  Washington  to  make  a  stand  against 
Howe’s  advance,  although  the  British  forces  were 
known  to  be  superior  to  his  own.  The  country 
called  for  a  battle,  and  Congress  itself  said  that 
Philadelphia  should  not  be  given  up  without  one. 
It  was  a  vast  responsibility  to  put  upon  the  head  of 
any  man,  but  the  commander-in-chief  assumed  it. 
It  cannot  be  said  that  he  did  so  calmly,  for  he  was 
by  no  means  a  man  of  stone.  Pie  felt  the  trial  in 
every  nerve  and  vein,  and  he  called  upon  his  men 
to  do  their  uttermost. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


21  I 


The  American  army  fell  back  before  the  British 
advance  to  a  good  position  behind  the  Brandywine 
Creek.  Here,  on  the  Iith  of  September,  a  force  of 
Hessians  under  General  Knyphausen  so  sharply  as¬ 
sailed  Washington’s  front  as  to  keep  him  engaged, 
while  the  main  body  of  Howe’s  army,  commanded 
by  him  in  person,  crossed  the  creek  some  miles  above, 
and  turned  the  American  flank.  It  was  completely 
done  ;  and  although  the  Americans  fought  well, 
the  battle  of  the  Brandywine  was  a  lost  battle.  Only 
by  great  exertions  did  Washington  save  his  army 
from  utter  destruction.  He  lost  a  thousand  men 
killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners,  the  British  losing 
five  hundred  killed  and  wounded.  Lafayette  dis¬ 
tinguished  himself,  receiving  a  bullet  through  his 
leg. 

The  conduct  of  Washington  before  and  during  and 
after  the  battle  was  such  that  he  did  not  lose  the 
confidence  of  his  men  or  of  Congress.  During  the 
following  night  he  made  a  successful  retreat  to 
Chester,  and  rallied  his  forces,  with  a  determination 
to  fight  again.  He  was  not  to  have  an  opportunity 
for  doing  so,  for  bad  weather  set  in  to  discourage 
and  disable  his  troops.  They  were  further  dispirited 
by  a  minor  engagement,  in  which  a  division  under 
Wayne  lost  three  hundred  men.  There  was  march¬ 
ing  and  counter-marching  for  a  few  days,  but 
Howe’s  superior  numbers  gave  him  too  great  an  ad¬ 
vantage  in  manoeuvres,  and  on  the  23d  of  Septem¬ 
ber  the  British  troops  entered  Philadelphia  without 
opposition.  Congress  had  already  adjourned  to 
Lancaster,  and  had  also  passed  an  act  conferring 


212 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


extraordinary  powers  upon  the  commander-in-chief, 
with  a  curious  provision  that  these  powers  were  to 
exist  within  a  distance  of  seventy  miles  from  his 
headquarters. 

The  British  main  body  lay  at  Germantown,  a  few 
miles  out  of  Philadelphia.  It  was  well  posted,  but  a 
strong  detachment  marched  from  it  down  the  Dela¬ 
ware,  and  there  were  reasons  for  believing  that  it 
might  be  sufficiently  diminished  for  an  equal  fight. 
With  this  idea,  Washington  made  an  attack  on  the 
4th  of  October,  and  first  won  and  then  lost  the  bat¬ 
tle  of  Germantown,  with  twelve  hundred  men  killed, 
wounded,  and  prisoners.  The  enemy  lost  only 
about  half  as  many,  but  the  attack  had  been  a  bold 
one,  and  there  was  no  good  reason  for  remaining 
where  they  were.  They  soon  removed  to  the  city 
itself,  all  the  Tories  of  which  had  received  them 
with  open  arms.  The  recent  disasters  to  the  Ameri¬ 
can  cause  had  done  much  more  toward  converting 
half-way  Tories  than  had  all  the  Howe  proclama¬ 
tions,  and  only  the  sincerely  patriotic  Philadelphians 
regretted  the  absence  of  the  Continental  Congress. 

One  gleam  of  sunshine  came  in  upon  the  gloom 
with  which  the  campaign  was  closing.  The  troops 
whose  march  from  Germantown  induced  Washing¬ 
ton  to  fight  that  battle  were  sent  to  reduce  Forts 
Mercer  and  Mifflin,  some  miles  below  Philadelphia. 
These  forts  commanded  the  Delaware,  and  kept  the 
British  fleet  from  coming  up.  They  were  both  at¬ 
tacked  on  the  22d  of  October.  The  garrison  of  P'ort 
Mercer,  five  hundred  men,  repulsed  an  assault  by 
Count  Donop  and  two  thousand  Hessians,  the  latter 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


21 3 


losing  their  leader  and  four  hundred  men  killed  and 
wounded.  The  first  attack  on  Fort  Mifflin  was  also 
unsuccessful,  with  a  loss  of  two  British  ships  of  war  ; 
but  the  siege  was  pressed,  and,  after  a  most  heroic 
defence,  the  garrison  escaped  to  Fort  Mercer. 
There  was  at  last  no  military  need  of  holding  either, 
and  this  fort  also  was  left  by  the  Americans  in  the 
enemy’s  hands.  The  Delaware  was  thenceforth 
open  to  the  King’s  ships. 

It  was  now  too  late  for  either  side  to  undertake 
extensive  operations  before  winter.  Each  had  lost 
heavily,  but  the  British  plan  had  failed.  They  had 
not  crushed  the  American  army,  North  or  South,  and 
so  they  had  been  ruinously  defeated.  It  was  not 
easy  to  make  ordinary  people  understand  this,  or  to 
see  that  Washington  deserved  credit  for  anything 
but  the  battles  he  had  fought  and  lost.  He  had 
shown  tenfold  more  ability  at  the  Brandywine  than 
Gates  had  shown  at  Saratoga,  but  it  was  easy  to 
charge  him  with  incapacity  and  bad  generalship, 
while  permitting  Gates  to  take  the  praise  that  be¬ 
longed  to  Schuyler  and  Arnold  and  Stark  and  the 
Indians  and  the  wilderness.  There  was  a  strong 
and  growing  murmur  against  Washington,  and  it 
spread  rapidly.  A  sort  of  plot  was  formed  for  his 
removal  from  power  and  for  putting  Gates  into  his 
place.  It  included  a  number  of  dissatisfied  Ameri¬ 
can  officers,  notably  General  Mifflin  ;  but  its  most 
active  spirit  was  a  French-Irish  soldier  of  fortune 
named  Conway.  Washington  had  prevented  Con¬ 
gress  from  making  him  a  major-general,  and  in  re¬ 
venge  he  now  made  against  Washington  what  was 


214 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


known  as  “  Conway’s  Cabal.”  It  was  supposed  by 
its  members  to  be  a  secret  affair,  but  letters  from 
Conway  to  Gates  were  reported  to  the  commander- 
in-chief,  to  add  to  the  bitterness  of  his  position.  He 
was  indifferent  to  the  course  of  action  of  such  men 
as  Conway,  but  he  could  not  entirely  overlook  the 
disrespectful  conduct  of  Gates.  That  general  was 
eighteen  days  in  sending  to  Congress  an  official  re¬ 
port  of  his  victories,  a  neglect  which  was  justly  re¬ 
sented.  He  sent  no  report  at  all  to  Washington, 
but  received  from  him  a  letter  of  congratulation, 
which  contained  this  stinging  rebuke  :  “I  cannot 
but  regret  that  a  matter  of  such  magnitude  and  so 
interesting  to  our  general  operations  should  have 
reached  me  by  report  only,  or  through  the  channel 
of  letters  not  bearing  that  authenticity  which  the 
importance  of  it  required,  and  which  it  would  have 
received  by  a  line  under  your  signature  stating  the 
simple  fact.” 

It  had  been  General  Gates’s  way  of  telling  Wash¬ 
ington  that  he  considered  himself  independent,  and 
meant  to  remain  so.  This  was  Washington’s  way 
of  saying  :  “I  am  still  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
American  Army,  and  am  your  superior  officer.” 

General  Conway  sent  in  his  resignation  on  learn¬ 
ing  that  his  letters  to  Gates  were  known  to  Wash¬ 
ington,  but  he  gave  other  and  seemingly  insufficient 
reasons  for  doing  so,  and  it  was  not  accepted. 

As  for  General  Gates,  he  seemed  more  reluctant 
than  ever  to  send  to  the  army  in  New  Jersey  the  re¬ 
enforcements  it  so  much  needed,  and  which  he  had 
no  good  reason  for  keeping  away.  He  sent  as  few 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


215 


as  he  dared  when  finally  Colonel  Alexander  Hamil¬ 
ton,  now  a  trusted  member  of  Washington’s  staff, 
came  to  insist  upon  it.  A  wild  plan  of  General  Put¬ 
nam’s  for  a  descent  upon  New  York  City  was  at  the 
same  time  nipped  in  the  bud  before  any  disaster 
could  come,  and  matters  at  the  North  seemed  to  be 
fairly  well  settled  for  the  winter. 

Washington  wrote  to  Patrick  Henry,  now  Govern¬ 
or  of  Virginia,  a  noble  defence  of  the  army,  but  not 
of  himself.  He  carefully  studied  the  lines  held  by 
the  troops  under  Howe,  and,  after  fully  counselling 
with  his  generals,  decided  that  he  could  not  safely 
attack  them.  He  prepared  to  go  into  winter  quar¬ 
ters  at  Valley  Forge,  while  his  enemies  of  the  cabal 
had  arranged  their  forces  for  a  campaign  against 
him.  On  the  27th  of  November  Congress  reorgan¬ 
ized  the  Board  of  War,  with  five  members  instead  of 
three.  General  Gates  was  made  President  of  the 
Board,  and  with  him  were  General  Mifflin,  Colonel 
Pickering,  Richard  Peters,  and  Joseph  Trumbull. 
The  making  of  such  a  board  to  oversee  him  was  a 
warning  to  Washington  that  Congress  believed  him 
in  need  of  supervision.  Conway  himself  was  shortly 
appointed  one  of  the  two  inspector-generals  whose 
duty  it  was  to  find  fault  with  the  army  and  its  man¬ 
agement. 

Early  in  December  General  Howe  moved  out  tow¬ 
ard  the  American  lines,  and  strove  to  entice  his  cau¬ 
tious  adversary  into  a  battle  at  a  disadvantage. 
When  his  plan  failed,  the  very  refusal  of  Washing¬ 
ton  to  be  trapped  and  defeated  was  used  against  him 
as  a  proof  of  lack  of  enterprise. 


2  1 6 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


The  winter  was  growing  more  and  more  severe, 
and  it  was  time  to  be  in  settled  quarters.  Valley 
Forge,  the  place  selected,  was  about  twenty  miles 
from  Philadelphia,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Schuyl¬ 
kill  River.  The  enemy  could  be  watched  from  it, 
and  it  was  a  good  enough  place  to  build  huts  in  and 
to  starve  and  freeze  among  them  for  the  sake  of 
liberty  and  of  generations  of  men  and  women  yet 
unborn.  It  was  reached  by  the  army  on  the  17th 
of  December. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


Cold  and  Hunger . — Washington  s  A ppeal  and  Defence. 

• — Praying  in  the  Snow. — Articles  of  Federation. — 
Paper  Currency. — Steuben  s  Work. — Conciliatory 
Acts  of  Parliament.  —  The  French  Alliance.  —  The 
Battle  of  Monmouth. 

The  picture  of  the  patriot  camp  at  Valley  Forge 
is  one  that  must  live  forever.  The  rude  huts  were 
such  as  the  soldiers  could  build  for  themselves  v/ith 
such  timber  as  they  could  cut  or  find.  Order  of  ar¬ 
rangement  was  duly  preserved,  but  there  was  no 
order  of  supply.  Within  two  days  after  arrival,  two 
whole  brigades  reported  that  for  those  days  they  had 
been  without  food.  It  was  a  text  upon  which  Wash¬ 
ington  wrote  an  earnest  appeal  to  Congress.  On 
the  same  day  he  heard  that  the  Pennsylvania  Legis¬ 
lature  had  sent  Congress  a  remonstrance  against  his 
going  into  winter  quarters  at  all.  He  should  keep 
the  field,  voted  the  patriots  who  were  not  in  the 
field.  This  fairly  stung  him  into  making  public  the 
manner  in  which  all  his  generalship  had  been  crip¬ 
pled,  and  he  again  addressed  the  President  of  Con¬ 
gress. 

It  was  a  long  letter,  and  there  were  men  who 
should  have  felt  it  as  a  whip.  He  spoke  of  military 
movements  rendered  impossible  for  lack  of  pro¬ 
visions  ;  of  men  unable  to  do  duty  as  soldiers  for 


2l8 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


lack  of  clothing,  and  men  in  hospital  with  frozen 
feet  ;  “of  no  less  than  twenty-eight  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  men,  now  in  camp,  unfit  for  duty  be¬ 
cause  they  are  barefoot  and  otherwise  naked  of 
numbers  of  men  sitting  up  all  night  by  fires  to  keep 
from  freezing,  because  of  lack  of  blankets.  Fie  de¬ 
scribed  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  as  protesting 
against  his  inactivity,  “as  if  they  thought  the  sol¬ 
diers  were  stocks  or  stones,  and  equally  insensible  to 
frost  or  snow.  ”  He  set  forth  the  absurdity  of  such 
an  army,  so  crippled,  being  expected  to  cope  with 
one  of  greatly  superior  numbers,  perfectly  supplied. 
He  said  :  “I  can  assure  these  gentlemen  that  it  is  a 
much  easier  and  less  distressing  thing  to  draw  remon¬ 
strances  in  a  comfortable  room,  by  a  good  fireside, 
than  to  occupy  a  cold,  bleak  hill,  and  sleep  under 
frost  and  snow,  without  clothes  or  blankets.  ” 

It  was  an  eloquent  defence,  and  it  had  its  effect 
then  and  afterward  ;  but  it  was  necessary  to  forage 
upon  the  surrounding  country  to  keep  the  troops 
from  perishing  before  help  should  come.  Under 
strict  orders  from  their  commander,  the  soldiers 
helped  themselves  from  the  farms  as  considerately 
as  might  be.  In  this  and  in  all  other  things  he 
strove  to  keep  up  their  moral  tone  to  a  high  stand¬ 
ard,  and  from  hut  to  hut  went  around  among  them 
the  tale  told  by  the  soldier  who  had  seen  Washing¬ 
ton  kneeling  in  the  snow  among  the  bushes  and 
praying  Gcd  to  help  them.  More  and  more,  through 
long  trial,  defeat,  disaster,  heat  and  cold,  fatigue, 
distress,  and  starvation,  the  men  he  led  had  learned 
liow  wholly  his  heart  was  with  them,  and  theirs  were 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


219 


all  with  him.  They  knew  that  whatever  else  might 
freeze,  there  was  nothing  cold  about  their  dignified 
and  stately  but  somewhat  excitable  general.  Their 
strong  affection  for  him,  and  their  readiness  to  ex¬ 
press  in  any  manner  the  confidence  they  reposed  in 
him,  was  the  real  reason  why  all  intrigues  against 
him  broke  down.  Every  assailing  force  was  shat¬ 
tered  like  earthenware  as  soon  as  it  came  into  col¬ 
lision  with  his  solid  worth,  as  that  was  known  by 
the  brave  men  who  had  served  and  suffered  with 
him.  The  talking  and  writing  men  might  admire 
Gates  and  Lee  and  Conway  as  much  as  they  chose, 
but  the  riflemen  who  shivered  in  the  huts  of  Valley 
Forge,  after  all  the  heats  of  the  campaign  which  lost 
Philadelphia,  never  wavered  one  moment  from  their 
devotion  to  George  Washington.  They  did  not 
really  waver,  even  when  neglect  brought  starvation 
and  starvation  drove  them  to  the  verge  of  mutiny. 

Supplies  did  come,  and  the  appeals  of  the  sorely- 
tried  commander,  published  from  State  to  State, 
were  not  without  their  effect  upon  his  personal 
standing  with  all  men.  Nevertheless,  the  intrigues 
against  him  went  on.  General  Gates  had  many  ex¬ 
cellent  qualities  of  head  and  heart,  and  his  treat¬ 
ment  of  Burgoyne  and  his  men  after  surrender  was 
admirable.  So  was  that  of  General  Schuyler  and 
the  whole  army  ;  but  the  glory  of  that  entire  affair 
centred  upon  Gates  for  the  time  being.  There  was 
a  vast  amount  of  correspondence,  in  some  of  which, 
when  all  was  over,  Gates  did  not  appear  to  good  ad¬ 
vantage.  There  were  bitter  discussions  in  Con¬ 
gress,  but  that  body  always  sat  with  closed  doors, 


220 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 


and  the  outside  world  knew  nothing  of  its  debates. 
Not  until  long  years  afterward  did  his  fellow-citizens 
know,  as  Washington  well  knew  at  the  time,  what  a 
strong  opposition  had  been  stirred  up  against  him  by 
jealousy,  calumny,  disappointed  ambition,  and  a  mis¬ 
use  of’everyidefect  in  his  conduct  as  a  general  or  a  man. 

There  were  many  suggestions  for  active  opera¬ 
tions  during  the  winter,  including  even  a  wild  plan 
for  another  raid  into  Canada,  and  one  for  kidnap¬ 
ping  the  British  General  Clinton,  now  in  command 
at  New  York  ;  but  all  died  quietly.  Spring  came  at 
last,  and  found  Washington  still  hard  at  work  at  the 
reorganization  of  the  whole  army,  with  reference  to 
an  active  season’s  work. 

For  several  months  Congress  had  been  seeking  the 
accomplishment  of  a  better  plan  for  the  federation 
of  the  colonies,  and  now,  on  the  1st  day  of  March, 
1781,  ”  the  articles  of  confederation”  were  adopted 
by  Maryland,  and  the  list  of  States  was  complete, 
and  they  were  called  colonies  no  more.  This  was  a 
grand  step  forward  toward  a  new  nationality,  but  it 
was  only  one  step.  In  spite  of  it,  the  central  Gov¬ 
ernment  was  weak,  and  the  paper  money  it  was 
issuing  was  already  so  depreciated  that  army  officers 
could  not  support  themselves  upon  their  pay. 

The  troops  at  Valley  Forge  had  never  been  out 
of  the  gripe  of  famine  for  more  than  a  few  days  at  a 
time  all  winter.  The  British  army  in  Philadelphia 
received  their  supplies  continually  by  sea.  The 
peaceable  inhabitants  suffered  numberless  privations, 
insults,  and  outrages,  but  the  troops  quartered  among 
them  passed  the  cold  season  in  luxury.  General 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


221 


Howe's  inaction  brought  upon  him  severe  censure 
from  British  critics,  who  contrasted  his  condition 
with  that  of  his  antagonist.  While  he  had  lain 
idle,  one  advantage  previously  held  by  the  troops  of 
the  King  had  been  permanently  diminished.  The 
Americans  had  been  sadly  deficient  in  discipline, 
drill,  knowledge  of  manoeuvres,  and  so  had  been 
more  easily  thrown  into  confusion,  in  spite  of 
their  courage,  on  several  important  occasions.  The 
hardest  work  at  Valley  Forge  in  March  and  April 
was  the  incessant  drilling  that  went  forward  under 
the  supervision  of  Baron  Steuben,  now  inspector- 
general.  He  was  an  accomplished  and  veteran  sol¬ 
dier,  and  his  work  was  of  vast  importance.  It  was 
one  of  peculiar  difficulty  to  him,  however,  until  he 
found  an  American  officer  who  could  speak  French 
and  interpret  his  orders  to  the  men. 

There  was  now  also  some  hope  for  a  better  and 
more  systematic  arrival  of  supplies,  for  General 
Greene  was  appointed  quartermaster-general,  and 
was  busily  reorganizing  that  department. 

The  next  sign  of  hope  was  a  notable  change  in 
the  temper  of  Congress.  The  deep  lesson  of  Valley 
Forge  had  not  been  lost  upon  them.  General  Con¬ 
way’s  resignation  was  finally  accepted,  and  General 
Gates  was  returned  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of 
the  North,  with  a  plainly-declared  subordination  to 
Washington.  The  labors  of  the  Conway  cabal  had 
been  utterly  wasted. 

There  were  two  more  and  very  important  signs  of 
the  times  to  encourage  the  American  people  in  their 
struggle  for  independence. 


222 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


The  British  Parliament  passed  two  “  conciliatory 
bills,”  offering  all  sorts  of  concessions  to  what  were 
still  described  therein  as  ”  the  colonies.”  Com¬ 
missioners  were  now  on  their  way  to  lay  these  acts 
before  Congress,  but  Governor  Try  on,  of  New  York, 
could  not  wait  for  their  arrival.  He  had  the  acts 
printed,  and  sent  copies  to  Washington,  with  the 
impudent  request  that  they  should  be  made  known 
to  the  army.  In  spite  of  all  he  had  undergone,  there 
was  fun  in  Washington  yet.  He  wrote  to  Governor 
Tryon  that  Congress  had  printed  the  acts,  and  was 
doing  its  best  to  circulate  them.  The  officers  and  men 
of  the  army  were  to  be  fully  advised  of  the  matter. 

It  was  truly  grotesque.  The  now  independent 
States  were  to  be  told  of  the  proposed  bounty  of  a 
man  who  still  claimed  to  be  their  gracious  sovereign. 
The  same  kindly  hearts  and  hands  wdiich  had  hired 
and  shipped  over  the  Hessians  and  turned  loose  the 
red  Indians  were  now  ready  to  remit  the  tax  upon 
tea.  Men  read  the  ”  acts,”  and  remarked  to  one 
another  :  ”  The  British  ministers  have  heard  of  Bur- 
goyne’s  surrender.” 

Congress  resolved  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  any 
commissioners  of  Great  Britain  until  that  power 
should  withdraw  its  fleets  and  armies  and  acknowl¬ 
edge  the  independence  of  the  United  States.  It 
also  passed  resolutions  inviting  Tories  to  return  to 
their  allegiance  ;  and  Washington,  in  grimly  humor¬ 
ous  retaliation,  did  not  fail  to  send  a  copy  of  these, 
which  promised  “  pardon  ”  also,  to  Governor  Tryon. 
It  gave  him  until  the  16th  of  June  for  full  repent¬ 
ance  of  his  Toryism. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


223 


The  other  good  news  was  the  completion  of  the 
tl  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  ”  and  the  **  treaty 
of  defensive  alliance  ”  with  France.  First  of  all 
nations  had  she  recognized  American  independence, 
after  sending  us  Lafayette  and  Steuben.  Washing¬ 
ton  ordered  a  grand  feast-day  in  the  camp  at  Valley 
Forge  on  the  6th  of  May  in  honor  of  an  event  which 
was  as  good  as  the  defeat  of  a  British  army.  There 
was  a  grand  parade,  an  uncommonly  good  dinner  in 
every  tent  and  hut,  and  all  were  helped  to  feel  the 
encouraging  change  in  the  aspect  of  affairs.  It  had 
been  a  good  while  since  Washington’s  army  had  had 
a  holiday  and  a  feast. 

Shortly  after  this  there  was  a  grand  council  of  war, 
in  which  it  was  resolved  substantially  that  so  long  as 
the  British  armies  were  lying  still  they  were  rotting 
away,  and  that  the  Americans  could  afford  to  have 
them  do  so.  The  latter  must,  therefore,  continue 
merely  defensive  operations,  unless  some  change  in 
the  British  front  gave  an  opportunity  to  strike  a 
blow. 

The  British  army  authorities  took  the  same  view 
of  the  matter,  and  called  General  Howe  home  for 
his  idleness.  They  put  General  Sir  Henry  Clinton 
in  his  place  at  Philadelphia. 

Washington  had  now  at  last  succeeded  in  getting 
General  Lee  exchanged,  and  had  as  good  an  opinion 
as  ever  of  his  military  capacity.  He  had  given  him 
a  command  at  once  in  his  own  army. 

There  was  a  French  fleet  coming  under  Count 
D’Estaing,  and  Admiral  Lord  Howe  had  no  notion 
of  being  blockaded  in  the  Delaware.  He  sailed  for 


224 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


New  York,  with  all  his  ships,  and  that  made  it  neces¬ 
sary  for  Clinton  to  leave  Philadelphia. 

The  movement  began  upon  the  18th  of  June. 
Clinton  had  with  him  eleven  thousand  men  and  an 
enormous  amount  of  baggage,  that  compelled  him  to 
travel  slowly.  While  he  and  his  army  were  packing 
up  to  leave  Philadelphia,  the  commissioners  arrived, 
with  power  to  treat  with  Congress  under  the  “  con¬ 
ciliatory  acts.  ’  ’  Their  answer  was  right  before  them. 
They  afterward  tried  even  bribery  rather  than  go 
home  without  accomplishing  anything  whatever,  but 
all  in  vain.  There  was  really  nobody  who  had  the 
cause  of  liberty  to  sell.  As  General  Reed,  now 
Secretary  of  Congress,  told  them  when  they  offered 
him  ten  thousand  pounds  and  a  fat  office  :  “I  am 
not  worth  purchasing  ;  but,  such  as  I  am,  the  King 
of  Great  Britain  is  not  rich  enough  to  do  it." 

Washington  had  been  watching  the  movements  of 
Clinton  carefully,  and  had  only  been  restrained  from 
attacking  by  the  objections  of  some  of  his  generals. 
Lee  especially  opposed  any  general  action.  He  had 
said  so  much  as  to  prepare  Washington’s  mind  for 
what  now  followed.  When  the  British  in  their  re¬ 
treat  had  nearly  reached  the  heights  of  Middletown, 
beyond  which  their  rear-guard  would  be  safe,  an 
attack  was  determined  upon  ;  and  Lee,  as  second 
in  command,  insisted  upon  replacing  Lafayette  in 
charge  of  the  advance.  By  bad  management, 
amounting  to  a  positive  disobedience  of  orders,  he 
turned  the  forward  movement  into  a  disorderly  re¬ 
treat.  Washington,  with  the  main  body,  came  up  to 
meet  detachment  after  detachment  of  angry  soldiers. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


225 


ignorant  of  any  reason  for  running  away.  He  met 
Lee,  and  the  interview  was  fiercely  stormy.  It  is 
not  to  be  denied  that  Washington  lost  his  temper. 
He  would  have  been  the  most  remarkable  of  men  to 
have  kept  it,  as  was  afterward  shown  before  the 
court-martial  that  tried  Lee. 

The  troops  faced  about,  with  an  orderly  perfec¬ 
tion  that  spoke  well  for  the  work  of  Baron  Steuben. 
Lee  worked  hard  to  retrieve  his  blunders,  some¬ 
what  too  late  for  himself,  but  not  too  late  for  good 
results  to  the  army.  The  skirmishing  prior  to  Lee’s 
retreat  was  of  no  importance,  but  now  the  still  ad¬ 
vancing  enemy  were  repulsed  with  terrible  energy  by 
the  men  from  Valley  Forge.  The  battle  of  Mon¬ 
mouth  was  the  first  field  engagement  unmistak¬ 
ably  won  by  Washington.  The  American  loss  was 
sixty-nine  killed  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  wound¬ 
ed.  The  British  carried  away  many  of  their  wound¬ 
ed,  but  lost  a  hundred  prisoners  and  nearly  three 
hundred  killed.  Both  sides  suffered  intensely  from 
the  sultry  heat  of  the  weather. 

There  was  no  further  opportunity  given  to  attack 
the  British  army,  but  when  Sir  Henry  Clinton 
reached  New  York  he  found  that,  between  the 
hot  weather,  hard  fighting,  and  desertion,  he  had 
about  two  thousand  fewer  men  than  he  led  out  of 
Philadelphia. 

Hardly  was  the  battle  of  Monmouth  over  before 
General  Lee  began  a  correspondence  with  Washing¬ 
ton  as  to  its  management.  It  was  impossible  for 
Lee  to  control  either  his  tongue  or  his  pen,  and  he 
made  his  case  worse  all  the  while,  although  he  was 


226 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


able  to  make  a  fair  defence  of  his  military  conduct. 
His  trial  by  court-martial  was  of  his  own  seeking, 
and  was  a  long  one.  At  the  end  of  it  he  was  tem¬ 
porarily  suspended  from  command,  and  never  again 
took  any  part  in  the  war. 

The  French  fleet  came  at  last,  too  late  to  aid 
Washington  in  shutting  up  Clinton  in  Philadelphia, 
and  too  late  to  attack  Lord  Howe’s  fleet  on  its  way 
to  New  York.  The  French  commander  was  at  once 
in  communication  with  Washington,  and  the  British 
troops  were  back  upon  their  old  camping-grounds  on 
Staten  Island  and  Manhattan  Island. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


Misunderstandings  and  Disappointments .  —  Indian 
Massacres. —Loss  of  Savannah. —  The  Political  Con¬ 
dition. — French  Plans. — Punishing  the  Iroquois. — 
Stony  Point. 

The  Count  D’Estaing,  when  he  and  his  fleet 
reached  the  capes  of  the  Delaware  early  in  July, 
sent  a  letter  to  Washington  in  which  he  assured  him 
that  all  Europe  already  regarded  him  as  the  “  De¬ 
liverer  of  America/’ 

This  may  have  been  so,  but  not  a  great  deal  more 
was  to  be  done  for  American  deliverance  during  the 
remainder  of  that  year.  The  first  idea  entertained 
by  both  commanders  was  a  co-operative  attack  upon 
New  York.  The  French  fleet  was  superior  to  the 
British,  but  found  that  its  heaviest  ships  could  not 
safely  attempt  to  pass  the  bar  at  Sandy  Hook,  and 
Washington  waited  at  White  Plains  in  vain  for  the 
time  to  come  for  his  part  in  the  undertaking.  That 
plan  being  given  up,  another  was  formed  for  the 
capture  of  the  British  troops,  six  thousand  in  num¬ 
ber,  on  the  island  of  Rhode  Island,  with  the  ships 
in  Newport  Harbor.  The  French  fleet  was  to  act  in 
combination  with  ten  thousand  Americans  under 
Sullivan,  Greene,  and  Lafayette.  Washington  ex¬ 
pected  success,  but  the  fleet  and  army  failed  to  act 
in  concert.  Lord  Howe  arrived  with  his  fleet, 


22$ 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


strengthened  by  new  arrivals,  and  destroyed  the 
first  part  of  the  intended  plan.  Then  a  great  tem¬ 
pest  scattered  both  fleets,  and  interfered  with  land 
operations.  After  that  there  were  misunderstand¬ 
ings  between  the  American  generals  and  the  French 
admiral,  and  the  latter  sailed  away  to  Boston  Harbor 
to  refit  his  weather-shattered  vessels  and  to  receive 
polite  letters  from  Washington,  soothing  his  wounded 
pride,  and  assuring  him  of  undiminished  confidence. 
Some  fighting  followed  on  the  land  side,  and  sev¬ 
eral  hundreds  of  men  were  killed  and  wounded  ;  but 
it  was  known  that  the  British  would  be  re-enforced, 
and  the  Americans  gave  up  the  undertaking.  This 
retreat  was  skilfully  conducted,  and  no  disaster  befell 
them  ;  but  the  failure  as  a  whole  was  a  bitter  disap¬ 
pointment  to  Washington  and  to  the  entire  country. 

From  this  time  onward  at  the  north  and  centre 
both  armies  contented  themselves  with  watching 
each  other,  while  the  feeling  of  bitter  hostility  grew 
deeper  daily.  There  was  continual  skirmishing  along 
the  lines,  but  the  fiercest  animosities  were  caused 
by  marauding  expeditions,  and  by  the  deeds  of  the 
Indians  and  Tories. 

„  Among  the  more  noteworthy  operations  were  those 
of  General  Grey,  who  ravaged  the  southern  coast 
of  Massachusetts,  destroying  shipping,  wharves, 
storehouses,  mills,  and  private  dwellings.  He  also 
inflicted  a  severe  blow  upon  Martha’s  Vineyard. 

Already,  in  the  early  summer,  about  sixteen  hun¬ 
dred  Tories  and  Indians,  under  Colonel  Butler,  had 
laid  waste  the  beautiful  Wyoming  Valley.  Over 
four  hundred  men  were  killed,  besides  women  and 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


229 


children  and  scattered  families  unrecorded,  and  five 
thousand  people  were  rendered  homeless.  All  Eu¬ 
rope  heard  of  the  deed  with  horror  ;  the  British 
ministry  was  denounced  for  it  on  the  floor  of  Parlia¬ 
ment  ;  and  the  war  of  American  independence  was 
turned  into  a  strife  which  could  have  but  one 
result. 

Cherry  Valley,  in  New  York,  was  visited  in  like 
manner  in  November,  and  there  were  many  murders, 
but  not  so  complete  a  work  of  destruction.  There 
seemed  danger,  at  one  time,  that  the  cry  of  “  No 
quarter  under  any  circumstances''  was  not  far  away. 

Up  to  the  close  of  the  year  1779  there  had  been  a 
vast  amount  of  miscellaneous  fighting  and  skirmish¬ 
ing  at  the  South,  but  no  definite  results  had  been 
obtained  by  either  side.  Late  in  December,  how¬ 
ever,  Savannah,  Georgia,  fell  into  the  hands  of  a 
British  force  under  Colonel  Campbell,  and  the  King's 
troops  were  able  to  close  the  year  with  a  success  of 
some  importance. 

To  all  appearance  the  British  had  at  least  lost  the 
year,  but  the  men  at  the  head  of  affairs  on  both 
sides  knew  that  the  American  federation  had  strained 
its  limited  resources  terribly  to  maintain  its  armies. 
King  and  ministry  alike  determined  upon  another 
tremendous  effort  for  the  subjugation  of  the  rebels. 
The  British  naval  force  in  American  waters  was  in¬ 
creased  to  enable  it  to  cope  with  D'Estaing’s  fleet, 
but  both  were  to  be  kept  for  a  time  in  the  West 
Indies,  fighting  for  the  ownership  of  the  islands,  and 
not  meddling  with  strictly  Continental  matters. 

The  beginning  made  at  Savannah  was  to  be  fol- 


230 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


lowed  up,  with  a  view  to  the  reduction  of  Georgia 
and  the  Carolinas,  and  General  Clinton  was  re-en¬ 
forced  so  as  to  be  able  to  do  something  more  than  f 
watch  Washington's  army.  It  did  not  seem  as  if  it 
would  require  increased  forces  to  push  back  the  Con¬ 
tinental  Army,  for  it  was  in  bad  condition.  The 
country  was  without  commerce  or  manufactures, 
and  its  agricultural  operations  were  sadly  disturbed. 
Some  of  its  best-developed  regions  had  suffered  from 
the  war,  and  were  sinking  into  poverty.  Washington 
spent  the  winter  in  Philadelphia.  He  laid  plans  for 
all  the  army  work  ahead  of  him,  but  the  records 
show  that  he  was  acting  more  as  a  statesman  than 
as  a  mere  general. 

Congress  was  in  bad  condition,  containing  a  num¬ 
ber  of  second-rate  men  who  were  weak  enough  to 
believe  that  the  war  was  nearly  over.  They  refused 
to  see  sufficient  danger  ahead  to  force  them  to  pull 
together.  The  framework  of  the  federation  was  yet 
very  weak,  and  threatened  to  fall  to  pieces.  If  the 
war  had  really  ceased  at  this  time,  there  seems  to 
have  been  good  reason  for  believing  that  there  could 
have  been  no  “  Union."  In  contradiction  to  the 
false  ideas  of  these  men,  Washington  wrote  to 
Colonel  Harrison,  Speaker  of  the  Virginia  House  of 
Delegates  :  "  Our  affairs  are  in  a  more  distressed, 
ruinous,  and  deplorable  condition  than  they  have 
been  since  the  commencement  of  the  war." 

He  knew  thoroughly  well  what  he  was  writing 
about,  and  he  went  on,  as  he  expressed  it,  "  to  draw 
a  picture  of  the  times  and  of  men. "  It  was  dark 
enough  when  he  had  made  it,  and  it  included  “  a 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


231 


great  and  accumulating  debt,  ruined  finances,  de¬ 
preciated  money,  and  want  of  credit." 

That  was  a  bad  showing  for  a  people  at  war  with 
the  richest  nation  in  the  world. 

There  is  another  great  instance  of  Washington’s 
far-seeing  statesmanship,  which  ought  not  to  be  for¬ 
gotten.  France  had  yet  a  hope  of  regainingher  old 
Canadian  possessions,  and  not  unreasonably  laid 
plans  to  that  end.  Lafayette  was  now  gone  home  to 
France  on  leave  of  absence,  full  of  a  grand  scheme 
for  a  French-American  invasion  of  Canada  during 
the  summer  of  1779.  The  majority  of  Congress  ap¬ 
proved  of  it,  but,  before  taking  final  action,  they 
consulted  the  commander-in-chief.  He  spoke  and 
wrote  against  it,  and  said,  among  other  forcible 
things,  “  Let  us  realize  for  a  moment  the  striking 
advantage  France  would  derive  from  the  possession 
of  Canada  :  an  extensive  territory,  abounding  in  sup¬ 
plies  for  the  use  of  her  islands  ;  a  vast  source  of  the 
most  beneficial  commerce  with  the  Indian  nations, 
which  she  might  then  monopolize  ;  ports  of  her 
own  on  this  continent,  independent  of  the  precarious 
good-will  of  an  ally  ;  the  whole  trade  of  Newfound¬ 
land  whenever  she  pleased  to  engross  it  ;  the  finest 
nursery  for  seamen  in  the  world  ;  and,  finally,  the 
facility  of  awing  and  controlling  these  States,  the 
natural  and  most  formidable  rival  of  every  maritime 
power  in  Europe. 

He  was  speaking  for  the  future  of  a  very  young 
country.  We  did  not  then  hold  Florida,  or  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  or  the  Pacific  slope  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  He  had  fought  the  French  in  the  Ohio 


232  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Valley,  and  he  knew  what  questions  of  boundaries 
lay  beyond  that  of  a  French  conquest  of  Canada. 

As  to  the  Indian  nations,  he  was  about  to  make 
the  future  trade  of  some  of  them  of  less  value  to 
anybody.  Something  had  already  been  done,  in 
the  previous  autumn,  to  avenge  Wyoming  and 
Cherry  Valley,  but  not  nearly  enough.  During  the 
warm  weather  of  1779  General  Sullivan  was  sent 
through  the  country  of  the  Six  Nations  with  five 
thousand  men.  The  towns  of  the  Onondagas  had 
been  destroyed  by  an  expedition  from  Fort  Schuyler 
in  April,  and  now  the  work  of  punishment  was  made 
thorough.  The  red  men  and  Tories,  less  than  two 
thousand  strong,  under  Brant,  Colonel  Johnson,  and 
Butler,  who  rallied  to  meet  Sullivan,  were  scattered 
in  a  battle  at  Newtown  on  the  29th  of  August. 
The  army  pushed  on  into  the  Genesee  Valley,  and 
left  nothing  behind  them.  Houses,  orchards,  corn¬ 
fields,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  bushels  of 
gathered  corn  were  destroyed.  The  Iroquois  were 
likely  to  think  twice  before  they  came  again.  So 
were  the  Senecas,  Mingoes,  Munceys,  and  other  sav¬ 
ages  of  the  Ohio  country,  who  received  a  similar 
lesson  from  a  force  under  Colonel  Brodhead. 

While  Sullivan  was  preparing  to  march  for  the 
Susquehanna,  Washington  had  an  opportunity  for 
showing  how  much  genuine  forbearance  there  was 
behind  his  hot  temper,  and  his  requirement  of  exact 
obedience. 

When  the  troops  were  ordered  to  march,  one  regi¬ 
ment  of  New  Jersey  troops  did  not  obey.  Its  officers 
had  been  paid  in  paper  money,  now  nearly  worthless. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


233 


They  could  buy  nothing  with  it  ;  their  families  were 
starving  ;  they  had  vainly  appealed  to  their  State 
legislature  ;  they  were  willing  to  serve  only  until 
their  resignations  could  be  accepted  and  their  places 
filled  by  other  men.  It  was  a  test  case,  for  the  whole 
army  was  in  a  somewhat  similar  condition.  Wash¬ 
ington  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  He  did  not  even 
exhibit  irritation  while  he  argued  with  the  brave  fel¬ 
lows  who  refused  to  suffer  any  longer,  and  he  pleaded 
their  case  for  them  with  the  New  Jersey  Legislature. 
He  gained  on  both  sides.  Supplies  were  furnished 
and  came,  and  the  troops  marched  without  the  pun¬ 
ishment  of  their  officers  for  disobedience  of  orders. 
They  had,  however,  been  somewhat  eloquently  lect¬ 
ured  by  their  beloved  general. 

Sir  Henry  Clinton  had  under  his  command  in  New 
York  nearly  seventeen  thousand  men,  beside  such 
irregular  help  as  Governor  Tryon’s  Tories  gave  him. 
He  also  had  a  fleet  at  his  disposal,  and  it  was  a 
puzzle  to  the  whole  American  army  that  so  little 
was  done  with  them  all.  Every  now  and  then  a 
marauding  expedition  went  out,  to  keep  the  country 
as  bitter  in  heart  as  ever.  One  went  by  sea  to  Vir¬ 
ginia,  under  Sir  George  Collier,  and  destroyed  all 
that  could  be  found  at  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  Gosport, 
Kemp’s  Landing,  and  other  places.  The  damage 
done  was  enormous,  and  all  Virginia  received  its 
needed  stirring  up.  Another  expedition,  under 
Governor  Tryon,  went  by  sea  to  New  Haven,  Con¬ 
necticut,  captured  a  feeble  fort  there,  and  destroyed 
shipping  and  public  stores  and  some  dwellings. 
Going  on  to  Fairfield,  they  burned  two  hundred 


234 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


and  nineteen  buildings,  including  the  court-house, 
churches,  school-houses,  and  jail.  At  Norwalk  they 
destroyed  two  hundred  and  sixty-two  buildings  of 
all  sorts  and  sizes,  and  so  all  Connecticut  and  New 
England  was  kept  “  high  strung/'  in  desperate  de¬ 
termination  to  be  free  and  to  fight  the  war  to  the 
.  end. 

Before  summer  came  Washington  was  in  the 
Hudson  Highlands,  planning  new  works  and 
strengthening  the  old  ones.  Among  others,  he 
began  a  fort  at  Stony  Point  and  another  at  Ver- 
planck’s  Point.  These  were  to  be  the  lower  gate  of 
the  Hudson,  as  West  Point  and  the  works  near  it 
were  to  be  the  upper  gate.  Before  either  of  the 
new  forts  were  in  shape  to  withstand  an  attack,  Clin¬ 
ton  sent  up  a  strong  force  and  captured  them  both. 
Fort  Lafayette  was  also  compelled  again  to  surren¬ 
der.  There  had  been  but  thirty  men  at  Stony  Point, 
and  they  all  escaped.  The  British  at  once  set  at 
work  to  complete  it,  and  they  made  it,  as  they 
thought,  impregnable.  It  was  regarded  as  a  sort  of 
Gibraltar,  and  its  midnight  recapture  by  General 
Wayne  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  affairs  on  record. 
Washington  laid  the  plan,  and  selected  “  Mad  An¬ 
thony,”  as  the  soldiers  called  him,  as  the  man  of  all 
men  to  carry  it  out.  The  first  thing  done  was  to 
send  by  stealth  and  kill  every  dog  in  the  neighbor¬ 
hood  of  the  fort.  Then  a  colored  man  who  sold 
provisions  to  the  garrison  was  secured  as  a  guide. 
When  all  was  ready,  Wayne  and  his  men  stormed 
the  fort  in  the  dark,  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 
They  knew  each  other  by  the  white  cockade  each 


GEORGE  WA  SUING  TON. 


235 


man  had  put  on,  and  did  not  kill  one  another  in  the 
confusion.  The  suddenly-roused  garrison  fought 
hard  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  surrendered  at  dis¬ 
cretion.  Not  a  man  of  them  was  harmed  after  the 
surrender,  but  sixty-three  were  killed  before  ;  and 
the  wounded  and  prisoners  were  five  hundred  and 
fifty-three.  The  Americans  lost  fifteen  killed  and 
eighty-three  wounded. 

Fort  Lafayette  was  not  retaken,  and  Washington 
decided  that  Stony  Point  alone  was  not  worth  hold¬ 
ing.  Everything  in  it  was  therefore  carried  away, 
and  the  enemy  were  permitted  shortly  to  occupy  it 
again. 

At  about  this  time  an  expedition  of  Massachusetts 
troops,  on  their  own  account,  against  a  British  post 
in  Penobscot  Bay,  resulted  in  a  bad  failure,  while 
**  Light-Horse  Harry  Lee,”  one  of  Washington’s 
especial  favorites,  surprised  the  British  fort  at 
Paulus  Hook,  and  brought  away  one  hundred  and 
fifty-nine  prisoners. 

The  fighting  at  the  South  during  the  year  1779 
could  hardly  be  said  to  be  under  the  supervision  of 
General  Washington.  It  was  too  far  away,  and  news 
came  and  went  too  slowly.  He  was  shut  up  in  the 
New  York  mountains,  and  General  Lincoln,  whom 
he  sent  down  before  spring  opened,  had  almost  an 
independent  command.  All  the  gallant  deeds  done 
in  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  and  the  coast  fighting 
in  Virginia  do  not,  for  this  reason,  belong  to  the  life 
of  Washington.  The  record  of  them  must  be  sought 
for  in  the  histories  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  The 
result  seemed  to  be  in  favor  of  the  British,  for  they 


2  3*5 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


victoriously  held  Savannah,  and  defeated  Lincoln's 
troops  elsewhere  severely. 

Washington  saw  no  reason  for  wasting  his  slender 
resources  of  men  and  material  in  assailing  an  enemy 
who  was  willing  to  be  really  besieged  in  New  York 
by  an  inferior  force.  He  remained  in  the  Highlands 
for  awhile,  keeping  house  there  with  rigid  economy 
and  simplicity,  while  Mrs.  Washington  maintained 
the  customary  hospitalities  of  Mount  Vernon 


Drawn  by  Howard  Pyle.  Engraved  by  Putnam.  From  “  Harper's  Magazine. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


A  Bitter  Winter. — Sufferings  of  the  Army . — Fears 
of  a  Dictatorship. — Loss  of  Charleston. — Subduing 
the  South. — The  Battle  of  Sanders  Creek.- — Ar¬ 
nold's  Treason. 

Forty  dollars  in  Continental  paper  currency  were 
now  barely  equal  to  one  in  silver,  and  the  army  in 
Westchester  and  in  the  Hudson  River  fortresses 
suffered  almost  as  badly  during  the  winter  of  1779- 
1780  as  at  Valley  Forge  the  year  before.  Money 
would  not  buy  provisions,  and  so  Washington 
gave  up  calling  upon  the  commissary-generals,  and 
appealed  directly  to  the  people,  by  counties.  Most 
responded  nobly,  but  some  had  to  be  aided  by  mili¬ 
tary  authority  in  making  up  their  requisitions.  The 
winter  was  the  coldest  that  had  been  known  since 
the  country  was  settled,  and  New  York  Bay  was 
frozen  over.  The  British  war-ships  were  fixed  in 
the  ice.  If  Washington’s  army  had  been  in  good 
shape,  he  could  have  fought  a  battle  in  the  harbor ; 
but  he  had  enough  to  do  in  keeping  what  men  re¬ 
mained  to  him  from  starving  or  freezing.  One  ex¬ 
pedition  was  actually  undertaken,  under  Lord  Stir¬ 
ling,  against  some  British  troops  on  Staten  Island, 
but  it  accomplished  very  little.  The  enemy,  in  re¬ 
turn,  made  raids  into  the  country  at  several  points, 
and  did  much  mischief ;  but  the  weather  was  against 


238 


GEORGE  W A  SUING  TON. 


them  also.  All  that  part  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey  which  lay  between  the  lines  of  the  contend¬ 
ing  armies  was  laid  nearly  waste  before  spring. 

One  of  the  most  important  events  of  the  winter 
was  the  trial  of  Benedict  Arnold  by  court-martial  for 
misconduct  while  in  command  of  the  troops  at  Phila¬ 
delphia  in  1778.  While  there  he  had  lived  extrava¬ 
gantly,  and  had  supported  his  ostentation  by  improp¬ 
er  uses  of  his  official  advantages  for  speculation.  He 
was  even  said  to  have  used  the  public  funds  for 
private  purposes,  but  it  did  not  appear  that  he  had 
been  actually  dishonest.  All  that  was  really  proved 
against  him  led  the  court-martial  to  sentence  him  to 
be  reprimanded  by  the  commander-in-chief.  There 
were  many  reasons  why  Arnold  felt  that  he  had  been 
unjustly  treated,  according  to  the  ideas  then  govern¬ 
ing  such  matters.  All  the  generous  care  taken  by 
Washington  to  make  the  reprimand  almost  compli¬ 
mentary  failed  to  take  away  the  sting,  and  the 
trouble  he  had  afterward  in  getting  a  settlement  of 
his  accounts  rendered  him  still  more  soured  and  dis¬ 
contented.  He  now  tried  to  obtain  a  command  for 
an  enterprise  at  sea,  and  failed,  and  then  he  asked 
and  received  leave  of  absence  on  account  of  his 
health,  and  went  away  into  the  country  to  brood 
over  his  wrongs,  real  and  imaginary.  He  afterward 
obtained  from  Washington  the  command  of  the 
troops  at  and  around  West  Point,  but  both  his  heart 
and  his  head  had  gone  astray,  and  power  was  now 
only  sought  as  a  means  of  seeking  revenge. 

Spring  found  the  condition  of  the  army  so  bad 
that  before  long  there  was  a  serious  mutiny  among 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


239 


some  of  the  best  troops.  Washington  suppressed  it 
with  difficulty,  and  declared  that  it  had  given  him 
deeper  concern  than  any  other  thing  which  yet  had 
occurred.  His  letters  to  the  President  of  Congress, 
urging  all  sorts  of  reformations  and  reliefs,  gave  rise 
to  hot  debates.  Measures  for  co-operating  with  him 
in  reforms  suggested  were  opposed  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  too  much  power  already — “  That  his 
influence  was  already  too  great  ;  that  even  his  virtues 
afforded  motives  for  alarm  ;  that  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  army,  joined  to  the  kind  of  dictatorship  already 
confided  to  him,  put  Congress  and  the  United  States 
at  his  mercy  ;  that  it  was  not  expedient  to  expose 
a  man  of  the  highest  virtues  to  such  temptations.” 
When  a  man’s  opponents  talk  about  him  in  that 
way,  there  is  little  need  for  asking  what  must  have 
been  the  opinion  of  his  friends. 

A  committee  of  three  was  at  last  sent  by  Con¬ 
gress,  and  General  Schuyler  was  at  the  head  of  it. 
Of  their  investigations  it  need  only  be  said  that  they 
found  many  officers  who  had  been  living  on  bread 
and  cheese  rather  than  rob  the  privates  of  their 
scanty  rations.  This  was  the  army  Washington  was 
so  proud  of,  and  that  loved  him  so  that  politicians 
were  afraid  that  it  would  some  day  make  him  dic¬ 
tator. 

On  the  27th  of  April  a  letter  came  from  Lafayette, 
just  arrived  in  Boston,  so  warm  and  friendly  that 
Washington  cried  when  he  read  it.  There  was  a 
French  fleet  also  coming,  with  six  thousand  men  on 
board  ;  but  there  was  to  be  little  use  for  them  or 
for  the  Army  of  the  North  that  year.  The  British 


240 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


commanders  had  turned  their  attention  to  the 
Southern  States. 

Just  at  the  close  of  1789  Sir  Henry  Clinton  left 
General  Knyphausen  in  command  at  New  York,  and 
sailed  northward.  His  destination  was  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  and  before  the  middle  of  May  he 
had  it  in  his  possession.  He  sent  out  vigorous  ex¬ 
peditions  to  subdue  the  ‘‘  rebel  ”  part  of  the  popu¬ 
lation,  and  this  was  altogether  unprepared  to  cope 
with  him.  The  hastily-gathered  forces  of  the 
patriots  met  with  disaster  after  disaster,  and  the 
entire  State  soon  seemed  to  be  once  more  under 
British  control.  The  Tory  element  came  out 
strongly,  and  Clinton  was  so  well  satisfied  with  his 
work  that  he  considered  it  safe  to  leave  Lord  Corn¬ 
wallis  in  command  and  return  to  New  York  to 
watch  Washington  and  lay  plots  for  kidnapping  him. 
Before  that,  however,  General  Knyphausen  had 
marched  into  New  Jersey  with  five  thousand  men, 
and  his  troops  had  done  the  people,  and  therefore 
the  British  name  and  cause,  a  vast  amount  of  dam¬ 
age.  He  retreated  hastily  on  finding  himself  unex¬ 
pectedly  confronted  by  the  regular  troops  of  the 
Continental  Army  under  Washington.  Had  it  been 
strengthened  as  it  should  have  been,  the  Hessian 
general  would  hardly  have  regained  his  old  lines  in 
safety.  When  Clinton  arrived,  he  again  pushed  out 
to  burn  villages  and  pillage  farms,  and  again  the 
militia  arose  around  him,  and  the  Continentals  under 
General  Greene  stood  in  his  way.  He  was  harassed 
back  clean  out  of  New  Jersey,  with  the  last  British 
army  that  was  to  set  foot  in  that  State. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


241 


After  the  departure  of  General  Clinton,  Lord 
Cornwallis  continued  the  operation  of  subduing  the 
Southern  States,  and  men  like  Sumter  and  Marion 
fought  his  detachments  from  swamp  to  swamp,  and 
from  river  to  river.  Washington  had  intended  send¬ 
ing  down  his  trusted  friend,  General  Greene,  but 
Congress  once  more  meddled  with  war,  and  appointed 
General  Gates  to  the  command  of  an  army  to  fight 
Cornwallis.  Gates  was  delighted  with  an  opportu¬ 
nity  of  winning  Southern  fame,  but  General  Lee 
cautioned  him  against  throwing  away  all  he  had  won 
at  the  North.  Lee's  judgment  was  really  good  in 
military  matters.  Gates  pushed  forward  too  rapid¬ 
ly,  with  an  idea  of  striking  a  sudden  blow,  and  so 
used  up  his  men.  He  still  had  over  three  thousand 
fit  for  duty  when  he  reached  Sanders  Creek,  in 
South  Carolina,  but  most  of  them  were  militia.  At 
the  same  hour  of  the  night  of  August  15th,  Corn¬ 
wallis  reached  the  same  place,  with  somewhat  over 
two  thousand  men,  of  whom  fifteen  hundred  were 
veterans.  The  generals  and  the  armies  were  both 
taken  by  surprise,  and  the  American  militia  broke 
at  once.  The  battle  of  Sanders  Creek  was  an  utter 
defeat  for  Gates,  and  an  end  of  his  military  reputa¬ 
tion.  He  lost  a  thousand  men,  with  all  his  artillery 
and  ammunition,  and  the  brave  Baron  De  Kalb  fell 
mortally  wounded  while  leading  the  Maryland  and 
Delaware  “  Continentals,”  who  fought  stubbornly 
until  overpowered. 

There  was  no  attempt  made  to  send  a  patriot  army 
southward  during  the  remainder  of  the  year,  but 
the  partisan  leaders  and  the  people  kept  up  a  brave 


242  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

resistance,  often  dealing  hard  blows  upon  their 
British  and  Tory  enemies. 

All  that  part  of  the  country  wore  a  dark  look  for 
the  cause  of  independence  from  the  beginning  of 
the  campaign  to  the  end,  and  there  was  little  at  the 
North  to  counterbalance  the  Southern  disasters. 

The  French  fleet,  with  the  six  thousand  men 
promised,  arrived  at  Newport  on  the  ioth  of  July, 
under  the  Count  de  Rochambeau,  and  more  were 
said  to  be  coming.  While  Washington  was  concert¬ 
ing  with  the  French  commander  a  combined  attack 
upon  New  York,  to  be  made  when  both  had  received 
re-enforcements,  a  trap  was  preparing  for  his  utter 
destruction. 

Benedict  Arnold’s  debts  and  his  revengeful  heart 
had  driven  him  to  evil  before  obtaining  command  of 
West  Point.  Failing  to  sell  himself  to  the  French 
ambassador  for  money  enough  to  appease  his 
creditors,  he  had  determined  to  try  the  British 
market  for  traitors.  He  had  opened  already  a  secret 
correspondence  with  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  and  now 
kept  it  up  at  West  Point.  It  was  carried  on  through 
Major  Andr6,  aide-de-camp  to  Sir  Henry,  who 
signed  his  letters  “  John  Anderson.”  Those  of 
Arnold  were  signed  “  Gustavus.  ”  A  bargain  was 
reached  at  last,  and  Benedict  Arnold  sold  himself 
for  ten  thousand  pounds  sterling  in  money  and  a 
commission  of  brigadier-general  in  the  British  army. 
With  himself  he  agreed  to  deliver  West  Point,  and 
to  do  it  at  such  a  time  as  would  make  its  loss  most 
disastrous.  That  was  to  be  when  Washington  and 
his  army  should  join  the  French  on  the  eastern  bank 


GEORGE  VVA  SUING  TON. 


243 


of  the  river,  so  that  British  control  of  the  Hudson 
would  cut  the  country  in  two. 

It  was  a  sad  thing  for  Major  Andre  that  he  sailed 
up  the  Hudson  in  a  sloop-of-war  to  complete  the 
purchase  of  Arnold.  The  negotiation  was  managed 
perfectly  upon  both  sides,  but  the  course  of  events 
compelled  Andre  to  return  by  land  through  the 
desolated  “  neutral  ground  ”  of  Westchester  County. 
His  stockings  contained,  besides  his  feet,  full  plans 
of  the  works  at  West  Point,  and  other  papers  that 
filled  his  journey  with  peril.  He  rode  on  safely 
toward  New  York  until,  some  miles  below  Pine’s 
Bridge,  he  was  stopped  by  a  young  man  with  a 
musket.  His  name  was  John  Paulding,  and  he  had 
but  recently  escaped  from  a  British  military  prison 
in  New  York.  With  him  were  two  more  like  him¬ 
self,  named  Isaac  Van  Wart  and  David  Williams. 
Andre’s  first  replies  to  their  questions  so  aroused 
their  suspicions  that  his  pass  from  General  Arnold 
did  not  prevent  their  searching  him.  The  hidden 
papers  were  found,  and  after  that  all  offers  of  money 
were  useless.  He  was  a  spy,  and  his  sturdy  captors 
marched  him  off  to  the  nearest  American  post,  ten 
miles  distant. 

It  is  a  mournful  story  from  first  to  last.  Wash¬ 
ington  fully  appreciated  the  personal  character  of 
Major  Andre,  but  youth,  abilities,  personal  accom¬ 
plishments,  all  the  threats  and  entreaties  of  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  could  not  change  the  fact  that  he 
was  a  spy.  He  was  tried,  he  was  convicted,  and  he 
was  hanged,  while  Benedict  Arnold  escaped  to  the 
British  lines.  He  did  not  deliver  West  Point,  but 


244 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


his  purchasers  paid  him  very  much  as  if  he  had  done 
so. 

The  discovery  of  Arnold’s  treason  created  a  pro¬ 
found  sensation  throughout  the  country.  It  was 
worse  than  the  loss  of  a  battle,  for  it  seemed  a 
national  dishonor.  The  one  redeeming  feature  of 
the  whole  matter  was  the  patriotic  integrity  of  the 
three  Westchester  County  farmers.  To  Washington 
himself,  who  reached  West  Point  on  the  very  day 
of  Arnold’s  flight,  and  would  therefore  have  been 
captured  with  it,  the  discovery  was  full  of  perplexi¬ 
ties.  A  vast  amount  of  military  information  had 
gone  to  Sir  Henry  Clinton  in  Arnold’s  own  head, 
in  spite  of  the  capture  of  Andr6  and  the  papers,  and 
all  plans  and  movements  required  sudden  changes. 
The  northern  campaign  was  paralyzed,  and  the  com¬ 
mander-in-chief  knew  hardly  whom  to  trust.  He 
had  just  returned  from  his  meeting  with  the  French 
officers  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  these,  as  they 
rode  with  him  from  town  to  town  afterward,  had 
been  astonished  at  the  reverent  enthusiasm  with 
which  men  and  women  thronged  around  him.  He 
had  felt  securely  confident  in  American  patriotism 
and  American  honor,  and  here  one  of  its  brightest 
examples  had  rotted  away  from  his  trust.  He  could 
not  swerve  a  hair’s-breadth  from  the  painful  path  of 
duty,  but  he  could  treat  Mrs.  Arnold,  in  her  frantic 
grief,  with  delicate  kindness,  and  he  could  give  Major 
Andr6  the  fairest  of  court-martials.  For  the  gay 
young  officer  caught  in  so  terrible  a  snare  all  men 
felt  a  deep  commiseration  that  survives  to  this  very 
day. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


245 


Benedict  Arnold  not  only  wrote  to  Washington  a 
letter  threatening  retaliation  upon  American  pris¬ 
oners  should  Andre  be  hanged,  but  he  had  the  im¬ 
pudence  to  issue  an  address  to  the  people,  defending 
himself,  and  a  proclamation  to  the  officers  and  sol¬ 
diers  of  the  army,  inviting  them  to  follow  in  his  foot¬ 
steps.  His  course  added  to  the  evidence  before  the 
court-martial  in  assuring  Washington  that  there  were 
no  more  like  him,  and  that  he  had  plotted  alone. 
The  “  people  ”  to  whom  Arnold's  address  was  issued 
exhausted  their  mother  tongue  in  vainly  trying  to 
express  their  opinion  of  his  infamy. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


A  Year  Closing  Darkly. — Generosity  to  Gates. — The 
Great  Southern  Campaign  of  General  Greene. — The 
Battle  of  the  Cowpens.  —  The  Battle  of  Guilford 
Court  House. —  The  Battle  of  Hob  kirk's  Hill. — 
Eutaw  Springs. —  The  Mutiny  of  Wayne' s  Men. — 
Preparing  for  the  End. 

There  were  cunning  plans  laid  for  the  capture  of 
Arnold,  but  none  succeeded.  Larger  plans  were 
formed  for  assailing  New  York,  but  they  were  wisely 
abandoned.  Washington  spent  the  remainder  of  the 
year  1780  in  earnest  efforts  to  prevent  the  disappear¬ 
ance  of  his  army  as  terms  of  enlistment  expired. 
He  also  won  the  sincere  respect  and  admiration  of 
the  French  officers  and  men.  With  the  former,  in¬ 
deed,  he  had  an  enthusiastic  advocate  in  his  devoted 
friend,  Lafayette,  who  had  by  this  time  created  for 
himself  a  fine  military  reputation. 

There  were  some  sharp  fights  with  the  Indians, 
who  were  once  more  ravaging  the  Mohawk,  and  they 
were  driven  back  into  the  wilderness  ;  and  there  was 
continual  partisan  warfare  at  the  South. 

The  aspect  of  affairs,  as  Washington  declared  in 
his  letters,  was  by  no  means  desperate,  for  Spain 
and  Holland  had  been  added  to  the  enemies  of 
Great  Britain.  All  hope  of  keeping  an  army  to¬ 
gether,  however,  must  shortly  vanish  unless  Con- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. . 


247 


gress  could  raise  more  money  to  pay  and  to  feed 
more  men,  and  to  provide  them  with  arms  and  am¬ 
munition. 

The  year  1780  closed  in  gloom  to  the  whole  coun¬ 
try,  but  the  man  whose  heart  was  most  heavily  bur¬ 
dened  did  not  fail  of  doing  one  peculiarly  noble  tiring 
before  winter.  General  Gates  had  lost  the  battle  of 
Sanders  Creek,  not  all  by  his  own  fault,  and  all 
things  had  gone  badly  since  then,  and  the  country 
had  lost  its  confidence  in  him.  Congress  ordered 
an  inquiry  into  his  conduct,  and  directed  his  removal 
from  the  Southern  command.  Washington  desig¬ 
nated  General  Greene  to  succeed  him.  News  of  all 
came  to  Gates  in  one  day,  and  the  same  mail  brought 
tidings  of  the  death  of  his  only  son.  It  was  an  hour 
of  utter  darkness,  had  it  not  been  for  a  letter  from 
General  Washington  accompanying  the  dispatches. 
It  was  full  of  sympathy  with  both  the  public  and 
private  sorrows  of  the  crushed  rival  who  had  been 
the  idol  of  the  “  Conway  Cabal."  It  assured  Gates 
of  confidence  and  friendship  and  of  the  command  of 
the  left  wing  of  Washington’s  own  army,  so  soon  as 
he  should  join  it.  It  is  no  doubt  true,  as  told,  that 
General  Gates  kissed  that  letter,  and  raved  eloquent¬ 
ly  about  the  heart  of  its  writer.  It  was  one  of  the 
victories  Washington  was  winning  all  the  while. 

General  Greene  also  treated  Gates  well,  and  so 
did  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  ;  and  he  went  home 
to  wait  there  for  a  long-delayed  court  of  inquiry. 
Greene  took  command  of  the  Southern  army  on  the 
3d  of  December,  and  at  once  went  vigorously  to 
work  to  promote  its  efficiency.  From  the  day  of 


24B 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


his  arrival  the  course  of  the  war  south  of  the  Vir¬ 
ginia  line  needs  only  to  be  sketched  in  outline.  All 
its  events  led  on  to  make  an  opening  for  Washing¬ 
ton’s  last  and  greatest  stroke  of  generalship. 

Greene  took  command  of  little  more  than  two  thou¬ 
sand  effective  men,  but  Colonel  Tarleton,  the  most 
active  cavalry  officer  under  Cornwallis,  was  then 
raiding  western  South  Carolina,  and  General  Morgan 
was  sent  against  him.  The  British  and  Tories  were 
found  to  be  in  superior  force,  and  Morgan  at  first 
retreated.  Finding  a  good  position  at  a  place  called 
“  the  Cowpens,  ”  he  faced  about,  and  after  a  short, 
sharp  battle  the  enemy  were  routed.  They  lost 
three  hundred  men  killed  and  wounded  and  five 
hundred  prisoners,  with  other  spoils  of  war.  Corn¬ 
wallis  at  once  marched  to  strike  Morgan,  and  Greene 
marched  to  join  him,  reaching  him  just  after  he  had 
been  saved  from  Cornwallis  by  a  sudden  Hood  in  the 
Catawba  River.  The  combined  American  force  was 
insufficient  to  cope  with  the  British  army,  and  a 
most  remarkable  retreat  began.  From  river  to  river, 
from  the  Catawba  to  the  Yadkin,  from  the  Yadkin 
to  the  Dan,  Greene  managed  to  cross  in  time  to 
escape  Cornwallis,  while  as  regularly  rain  came 
down  and  swelled  each  river,  to  keep  the  British  in 
check,  while  the  Americans  gained  a  fresh  start.  The 
pursuit  was  kept  up  vigorously  until  Greene  escaped 
across  the  Virginia  line.  Cornwallis  again  moved 
southward.  Re-enforcements  came  to  Greene,  in¬ 
creasing  his  army  to  forty-four  hundred  men,  and 
he  re-entered  North  Carolina.  His  first  success  was 
the  destruction  of  a  body  of  about  three  hundred 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  249 

and  fifty  Tories.  His  next  was  the  battle  of  Guil¬ 
ford  Court  House,  with  the  army  under  Cornwallis. 
He  was  driven  from  the  field  with  a  loss  of  four  hun¬ 
dred  killed  and  wounded,  and  hundreds  of  his  militia 
at  once  went  home  ;  but  Cornwallis  had  lost  five 
hundred  of  his  best  troops,  and  fell  back  to  Wilming¬ 
ton.  From  that  place  he  shortly  marched  into  Vir¬ 
ginia,  to  take  his  part  in  the  closing  scenes  of  the 
war.  Lord  Rawdon  was  now  in  command  in  South 
Carolina,  and  Greene,  relieved  of  Cornwallis,  marched 
on  into  that  State.  Lord  Rawdon’s  camp  was  at 
Camden,  and  Greene  took  a  position  on  Hobkirk’s 
Hill,  about  a  mile  from  him.  Here,  on  the  27th  of 
April,  a  battle  was  fought,  with  nearly  equal  loss  on 
both  sides  ;  but  the  Americans  became  confused, 
broke,  and  lost  the  field.  Rawdon  soon  fell  back 
toward  Charleston,  for  the  rebel  partisan  bands  were 
rising  fast  in  all  directions,  capturing  his  posts  and 
scattering  his  detachments.  He  soon  after  sailed 
for  England,  leaving  Colonel  Stewart  in  command 
of  a  region  which  was  daily  becoming  more  and 
more  unsafe  for  a  British  army.  Early  in  Septem¬ 
ber  Greene  again  advanced,  and  fought  the  drawn 
battle  of  Eutaw  Springs  with  the  forces  under 
Stewart.  These  retreated  in  the  night,  after  the 
battle,  and  in  a  few  weeks  from  that  time  all  that 
remained  to  King  George  of  his  three  Southern 
colonies  were  the  seaports  of  Savannah,  Georgia, 
and  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 

Lord  Cornwallis  had  entered  Virginia  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  conquering  the  State,  and  it 
seemed  to  be  almost  at  his  mercy.  He  could  hardly 


25° 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


have  expected  that  his  former  province  would  pass 
under  General  Greene’s  command  while  he  was  tak¬ 
ing  Virginia,  and  still  less  could  he  have  had  any 
reasonable  fear  of  the  far-away  army  of  ragged  and 
starving  Continentals  under  General  Washington. 

The  commander-in-chief  was  in  a  most  painful 
position  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1781.  He 
could  neither  send  to  Greene  the  help  so  much 
needed  in  the  South,  nor  increase  the  small  force 
under  Lafayette  in  Virginia,  after  he  had  sent  it  ; 
nor  could  he  move  in  any  direction  at  the  North. 
His  operations  were  paralyzed,  and  his  only  hope 
seemed  to  be  in  a  loan  of  money  from  France.  Even 
ships  and  men  he  accounted  as  of  less  importance 
than  hard  cash,  and  said  so  urgently  to  Congress 
and  to  Colonel  Laurens,  who  was  about  to  sail  for 
France  as  a  special  envoy. 

The  patience  of  the  steadiest  and  most  patriotic 
Continentals  had  long  been  wearing  out.  On  New 
Year’s  day  there  came  a  terrible  notification  that 
it  had  at  last  broken  down  under  extreme  suffer¬ 
ing.  A  part  of  the  Pennsylvania  line,  under  Gen¬ 
eral  Wayne,  encamped  at  Morristown,  New  Jersey, 
had  an  additional  grievance.  Their  term  of  en¬ 
listment,  “  for  three  years,  or  the  war,”  was  inter¬ 
preted  by  them  to  mean  “  three  years,  or  sooner,  if 
the  war  ended,”  and  by  the  authorities  to  read 
”  three  years  and  until  the  war  is  ended.”  So  they 
were  not  released  from  duty,  nor  were  they  fed  or 
clothed  or  paid  ;  and  they  mutinied  in  despair,  de¬ 
claring  that  they  would  march  to  Philadelphia  and 
demand  redress  of  Congress.  Wayne  strove  in  vain 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


251 


to  quell  the  mutiny,  but  the  soldiers  told  him  plain¬ 
ly,  as  he  cocked  his  pistol  :  “We  love,  we  respect 
you,  but  you  are  a  dead' man  if  you  fire.  Do  not 
mistake  us  ;  we  are  not  going  to  the  enemy  ;  were 
they  now  to  come  out,  you  would  see  us  fight  under 
your  orders  with  as  much  resolution  and  alacrity  as 
ever.  ” 

Their  bayonets  were  at  his  breast,  and  he  gave  it 
up.  There  were  other  attempts  at  “quelling,”  in 
which  many  men  were  wounded  and  one  captain 
killed  ;  but  the  mutiny  spread,  and  thirteen  hundred 
men  marched  away  toward  Philadelphia,  taking  with 
them  six  field-pieces.  Their  patriotism  was  un¬ 
touched,  for  when  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  in  New  York, 
heard  of  the  mutiny  and  sent  agents  to  tamper  with 
the  mutineers,  the  men  did  but  arrest  his  agents 
and  hold  them  for  trial  as  spies.  As  they  keenly 
expressed  it,  not  a  soldier  among  them  had  any 
idea  of  “  turning  Arnold.”  Wayne  wrote  to  Wash¬ 
ington,  but  rode  on  with  his  men,  who,  commanded 
by  their  sergeants,  preserved  excellent  order.  They 
were  the  most  respectable  mutineers  the  world  ever 
saw,  and  they  were  treated  accordingly.  They  were 
negotiated  with  through  President  Reed,  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  their  own  “  governor,”  as  we  should  now 
call  him.  Their  grievances  were  adjusted  as  to  all 
things,  including  their  terms  of  enlistment.  Men 
entitled  to  discharge  were  set  free,  and  all  the  rest 
were  given  a  furlough  of  forty  days.  General  Clin¬ 
ton’s  two  agents  were  tried  and  hanged. 

Well  as  the  men  had  behaved  under  command  of 
their  sergeants,  and  patriotically  as  they  had  talked, 


252  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

the  settlement  obtained  by  them  was  strongly  dis¬ 
approved  by  Washington.  Unless  all  others  could 
as  completely  be  delivered  from  suffering,  the  civil 
power  had  gone  too  far,  and  had  set  a  premium  upon 
mutiny. 

The  New  Jersey  troops  at  Pompton  certified  to 
the  soundness  of  their  general’s  judgment  on  the 
20th  of  January.  They  arose  in  arms,  demanding 
the  premiums,  and  it  seemed  likely  that  the  entire 
army  would  follow  the  example  of  the  Pennsylvania 
regiments  to  secure  the  same  advantages. 

It  happened,  however,  that  these  New  Jersey 
troops  were  not  of  the  very  cream  of  the  army,  and 
could  wisely  be  dealt  with  severely.  A  detachment 
of  the  Massachusetts  line  was  marched  into  their 
camp  just  at  daybreak,  to  secure  their  arms.  They 
were  compelled  to  surrender  unconditionally,  and 
two  of  their  most  noisy  ringleaders  were  shot. 

There  was  no  more  mutiny,  but  it  looked  as  if 
there  was  much  to  be  done  before  there  would  be  a 
trustworthy  army  of  sufficient  strength  to  cope  with 
the  enemy  in  the  field. 

The  final  ratification  of  Articles  of  Confederation 
between  the  States  had  given  promise  of  a  more 
efficient  central  Government,  and  a  new  system  of 
taxation  now  assured  better  provision  for  the  army. 
Supplies  of  all  sorts  were  arriving  from  France.  It 
was  time  to  study  how  and  when  and  where  a  blow 
could  be  struck  which  would  shatter  the  British  army. 

There  were  many  reasons  why  New  York  was  a 
post  easily  held  against  a  force  acting  from  the  land 
side,  unless  that  force  should  be  overwhelmingly 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


253 


strong.  So,  since  Washington  could  not  capture 
New  York,  Sir  Henry  Clinton  and  Lord  Cornwallis 
prepared  and  stationed  an  army  precisely  where  he 
could  take  it.  They  began  on  the  20th  of  Decem¬ 
ber,  1780,  by  sending  Benedict  Arnold  to  Virginia, 
by  sea,  with  about  seventeen  hundred  troops,  Brit¬ 
ish,  Germans,  and  Tories. 

Arnold  went  with  a  heart  more  bitter  than  ever, 
for  the  British  officers  were  cold  and  distrustful ; 
he  knew  that  his  name  was  already  a  by-word  of  in¬ 
famous  reproach,  and  his  very  wife  had  declared  that 
she  would  not  live  with  him  again.  His  expedition 
was  one  of  piratical  devastation  rather  than  war. 
He  anchored  his  large  vessels  in  the  Chesapeake, 
and  went  up  James  River  with  smaller  craft.  He 
ravaged  the  country  in  all  directions,  doing  an  im¬ 
mense  amount  of  damage.  Baron  Steuben,  then  in 
command  in  Virginia,  had  sent  all  his  best  troops  to 
Greene  in  the  South,  and  such  militia  as  he  could 
gather  could  not  cope  with  Arnold’s  force. 

They  harassed  him  sufficiently,  however,  to  make 
it  wise  for  him  to  fortify  himself  at  Portsmouth,  and 
there  Steuben  managed  to  hem  him  in. 

The  central  Government  of  the  United  States  was 
fast  taking  on  its  new  form,  and  Congress  was 
thenceforward  to  meddle  less  and  not  so  directly 
with  details  of  army  administration.  Secretaries  of 
foreign  affairs,  of  war  and  of  marine,  and  a  super¬ 
intendent  of  finance  were  provided  for.  It  was 
precisely  what  Washington  had  long  been  urging, 
and  was  a  bright  sign  of  relief  to  him  from  many 
heavy  burdens. 


254 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


On  the  22d  of  January  a  storm  scattered  the  Brit¬ 
ish  fleet  blockading  the  French  fleet  in  Newport  Har¬ 
bor,  and  Washington  could  ask  for  some  ships  to 
go  down  and  look  after  Arnold.  His  request  was 
seconded  by  Congress  and  by  Governor  Jefferson  of 
Virginia.  Three  ships  were  sent  and  some  troops, 
but  they  only  sailed  in  and  out  of  the  Chesapeake, 
without  finding  anything  to  do.  At  sea  they  took 
a  British  man-of-war  and  two  privateers. 

On  the  22d  of  February  Washington  sent  Lafayette 
with  twelve  hundred  men  to  co-operate  with  Steu¬ 
ben.  On  the  6th  of  March  he  went  himself  to 
Newport,  and  was  everywhere  greeted  by  the  people 
with  even  extravagant  expressions  of  affection.  Two 
days  later  he  was  able  to  send  word  to  Lafayette 
that  the  whole  French  fleet  had  sailed  for  the  Chesa¬ 
peake.  Two  days  later  still  a  powerful  British  fleet 
sailed  in  pursuit,  and  a  naval  battle  between  the  two 
squadrons  was  fought  on  the  16th  off  the  capes  of 
Virginia.  Both  sides  suffered  much,  and  both 
claimed  the  victory,  but  the  French  came  back  to 
Newport  and  the  British  remained  in  possession  of 
the  Chesapeake  and  the  Virginian  harbors. 

Lafayette  had  not  yet  reached  his  destination, 
and  Washington  wrote  to  him  to  push  forward  at 
once.  The  young  Frenchman  had  just  returned  to 
his  camp,  at  Head  of  Elk,  from  a  hasty  visit  to  Mrs. 
Washington,  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  obeyed  with 
double  enthusiasm.  So  did  his  men,  when  he  told 
them  that  a  specially  dangerous  enterprise  was  be¬ 
fore  them,  and  gave  them  to  understand  that  it  in¬ 
cluded  Benedict  Arnold.  It  was  about  this  time 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


255 


that  an  American  prisoner  was  asked  by  the  traitor 
what  would  become  of  him  if  captured.  The  an¬ 
swer  was  very  plain  :  “  They  would  cut  off  the  leg 
wounded  in  the  service  of  your  country  and  bury  it 
with  the  honors  of  war.  The  rest  of  you  they  would 
hang. 

Sir  Henry  Clinton  now  sent  General  Phillips  to 
command  in  Virginia,  and  with  him  two  thousand 
men  to  increase  the  army  that  was  to  be  surrendered 
in  due  season.  This  re-enforcement  reached  Ports¬ 
mouth  on  the  26th  of  March. 

Baron  Steuben  was  now  compelled  to  fall  back, 
and  both  Phillips  and  Arnold  resumed  their  work  of 
devastation,  but  not  without  much  hard  skirmishing 
with  the  Virginia  militia,  who  were  gathering  fast. 
Two  thousand  of  them  were  ready,  with  a  splendid 
dragoon  troop  of  sixty  men,  to  join  Lafayette  on 
his  arrival.  His  own  force  had  swelled  to  two  thou¬ 
sand  on  the  way,  and  he  was  able  to  check  at  once 
the  operations  of  General  Phillips. 

One  of  the  British  buccaneering  expeditions  up 
the  Potomac  had  threatened  Mount  Vernon,  and 
had  been  bought  off  with  provisions  and  other  sup¬ 
plies  by  Lund  Washington,  the  general’s  manager. 
Lafayette  wrote  at  once  to  his  friend,  knowing  well 
how  he  would  feel  about  such  a  disgrace,  for  it 
looked  badly  beside  the  record  of  neighboring  plant¬ 
ers,  whose  houses  had  been  burned  for  their  patriotic 
refusals.  Before  receiving  that  letter,  however, 
Washington  had  written  stormily  to  Lund,  telling 
him,  among  other  things,  that  it  would  have  been 
less  painful  to  have  heard  that  the  enemy  “  had 


GEORGE  IV A  SUING  TON. 


?56 

burnt  my  house  and  laid  my  plantation  in  ruins.” 
About  the  middle  of  May  General  Phillips  died  at 
Petersburg,  but  Benedict  Arnold  was  in  command 
again  only  until  the  20th,  when  Lord  Cornwallis  ar¬ 
rived  from  the  South  with  the  remainder  of  the 
army  which  had  worn  itself  out  in  chasing  Greene. 
More  re-enforcements  came  from  New  York,  and  a 
returning  ship  lightened  his  lordship  of  Benedict 
Arnold’s  unpleasant  company. 

Cornwallis  now  undertook  an  active  campaign 
against  Lafayette.  His  cavalry  were  well  mounted 
upon  Virginia  horses,  and  he  came  near  capturing 
Governor  Thomas  Jefferson  and  the  legislature,  seven 
members  of  which  failed  to  escape  when  Tarleton’s 
riders  dashed  into  Charlottesville,  the  capital. 

More  French  ships  and  troops  arrived  at  the 
North,  with  news  that  a  yet  stronger  fleet  and  force 
were  coming,  and  Washington  was  in  continual  con¬ 
sultation  with  the  Count  de  Rochambeau  and  other 
French  officers  as  to  the  best  way  of  attacking  New 
York.  He  was  also  writing  letters  to  the  governors 
of  States  concerning  the  failure  of  the  recruiting  ser¬ 
vice.  Instead  of  the  thirty-seven  thousand  men 
provided  for  him  by  act  of  Congress,  he  had  but 
seven  thousand,  and  greatly  needed  the  other  thirty, 
if  he  was  expected  to  crush  the  British  army. 

The  French  fleet  in  Newport  Harbor  was  block¬ 
aded  there  by  a  stronger  British  squadron,  and  it 
was  decided  that  all  the  French  land  forces  at  that 
point  should  join  the  army  before  New  York.  There 
was  continual  skirmishing  along  the  lines,  and  Sir 
Henry  Clinton  was  so  satisfied  that  he  was  soon  to 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


257 


be  assailed,  that  he  wrote  to  Lord  Cornwallis  for  re¬ 
enforcements.  He  received  three  thousand  Hessian 
troops  from  England,  and  felt  safer  ;  but  his  request 
weakened  the  plans  of  Cornwallis  at  a  time  when 
Lafayette  was  pressing  him  hard,  and  all  the  men 
he  had  were  needed  for  the  conquest  of  Virginia. 
Every  movement  Cornwallis  made  was  closely  fol¬ 
lowed,  until  he  at  last  settled  at  Portsmouth,  and 
began  to  fortify  himself.  For  various  reasons,  he 
soon  decided  not  to  do  so,  and  shortly  removed  to 
Yorktown,  on  York  River.  From  that  place  he 
wrote  to  Sir  Henry  that  he  could  spare  him  a  thou¬ 
sand  men  or  so  if  they  were  really  needed  ;  but  they 
were  not  needed,  and  were  not  to  be  sent. 

Washington  and  De  Rochambeau  were  at  New 
York,  discussing  dispatches  from  Lafayette,  when 
the  French  frigate  Concorde  arrived  at  Newport. 
She  brought  dispatches  from  Admiral  de  Grasse, 
saying  that  on  the  3d  of  August,  with  twenty- five 
to  thirty  French  ships  of  the  line,  having  on  board 
a  land  force,  he  should  sail  for  Chesapeake  Bay. 

Instantly  the  whole  face  of  things  underwent  a 
change.  The  means  of  striking  the  great  blow  were 
to  be  at  the  place  of  striking,  ready  to  be  used. 
Washington’s  very  soul  took  fire,  for  he  saw  that 
the  end  had  come.  De  Rochambeau  and  his  officers 
agreed  entirely  with  him,  and  left  him  the  unhin¬ 
dered  control  of  his  master-stroke.  The  army  to  be 
captured  was  that  of  Cornwallis,  and  not  that  of  Sir 
Henry  Clinton. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


Good  News. — Keeping  up  Appearances. — A  Sudden 
March. —  Two  Days  at  Mount  Ver?ion. — The  Siege 
of  Yorktown. — Surrender  of  Cornwallis. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  make  a  great 
show  of  menacing  New  York  City  by  the  disposition 
of  troops  here  and  there,  and  by  laying  out  a  great 
camp  on  the  New  Jersey  shore.  Ovens  were  built 
there  and  fuel  gathered,  as  if  much  baking  were  to 
be  done,  and  Sir  Henry  Clinton’s  spies  reported  all 
they  found.  What  nobody,  not  even  his  own 
officers,  knew,  was  the  plan  of  the  commander-in¬ 
chief.  He  wrote  to  Lafayette  that  he  was  coming, 
and  sent  a  letter  that  was  to  meet  the  Count  de 
Grasse  upon  his  expected  arrival  in  the  Chesapeake. 

Washington  proposed  to  take  with  him  little  more 
than  two  thousand  of  his  own  veterans,  leaving  the 
rest  to  garrison  the  forts  in  the  Highlands,  and  to 
maintain  as  long  as  might  be  the  delusion  of  Gen¬ 
eral  Clinton. 

The  combined  American  and  French  army,  on  the 
25th  of  August,  marched  away  southward,  not  a  sol¬ 
dier  of  it  knowing  why  or  how  far,  and  they  reached 
the  Delaware  River  before  the  British  in  New  York 
were  aware  that  they  had  gone.  It  was  then  too 
late  for  Clinton  to  strike  at  Washington’s  army  or 
to  help  Cornwallis.  All  he  could  think  of  as  a  sort 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


259 


of  counter-blow  was  to  send  Benedict  Arnold,  with 
a  mixed  force  of  British,  Tories,  and  Hessians,  to  de¬ 
stroy  New  London,  massacre  the  garrison  of  Fort 
Griswold,  and  add  a  last  stain  to  the  blackness  which 
had  settled  upon  his  name. 

Washington  was  welcomed  at  Philadelphia  on  the 
30th  of  August  by  enthusiastic  crowds,  and  three 
days  later  his  army  marched  through.  His  first  care 
on  arriving  had  been  to  make  arrangements  for  their 
pay  out  of  money  which  had  arrived  from  France 
the  week  before.  The  French  troops  made  their 
parade-passage  on  the  3d  of  September,  and  pre¬ 
sented  a  different  appearance  from  that  of  the 
ragged  Continentals.  Letters  from  Lafayette  in¬ 
formed  Washington  that  Cornwallis  had  settled  him  ¬ 
self  at  Yorktown,  but  there  was  no  one  to  tell  Corn¬ 
wallis  for  what  great  purpose  he  had  so  stationed 
his  army. 

Washington  left  Philadelphia  on  the  5th  of  Sep¬ 
tember,  but  before  he  had  gone  far  an  express  rider 
met  him  with  word  from  Admiral  Count  de  Grasse 
that  he  had  reached  the  Chesapeake  with  twenty- 
eight  ships  of  the  line.  The  general  rode  back  to 
rejoice  with  De  Rochambeau,  and  the  next  messen¬ 
ger  announced  that  Marquis  St.  Simon  had  already 
landed,  with  three  thousand  men,  and  was  in  com¬ 
munication  with  Lafayette. 

All  possible  preparations  were  hurried  forward  for 
the  combination  of  the  land  and  naval  forces,  and 
Washington  pressed  on.  He  went  to  Mount  Ver¬ 
non,  with  the  Count  de  Rochambeau  and  others  as 
his  guests,  but  it  was  only  for  two  days  of  rest.  Six 


260 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


years  had  elapsed  since  he  had  slept  under  his  own 
roof — six  years  of  toil,  trouble,  hardship,  expo¬ 
sure,  peril  ;  but  it  was  not  time  for  repose  yet,  and 
he  and  his  guests  rode  on  to  join  Lafayette. 

Cornwallis  knew  that  he  was  in  danger  as  soon  as 
the  French  fleet  appeared,  and  troops  began  to  come 
ashore  from  them.  He  did  not  know  that  Wash¬ 
ington  was  coming,  but  he  would  have  retreated 
southward  if  the  way  had  not  been  already  blocked. 
He  wrote  at  once  to  Sir  Henry  Clinton  for  help,  and 
went  on  vigorously  with  his  fortifications.  It  was 
not  until  the  25th  of  September  that  his  reply  came, 
promising  that  Admiral  Digby,  with  twenty-three 
ships  of  the  line  and  five  thousand  troops,  would 
sail  to  join  him  on  the  5th  of  October.  Admiral 
Graves,  commanding  the  British  fleet  already  on  the 
coast,  had  acted  immediately  on  hearing  that  De 
Grasse  was  in  the  Chesapeake.  He  came  to  meet 
him  with  twenty  ships  of  the  line,  and  an  action  of 
some  importance  between  the  two  fleets,  on  the  9th 
of  September,  left  the  French  admiral  free  to  co¬ 
operate  with  the  land  forces  gathering  around  York- 
town.  Lafayette  wisely  refused  all  rash  counsels 
for  fighting  before  his  commander  arrived,  and  the 
siege  was  planned  and  organized  without  a  blunder. 

The  combined  French  and  American  forces  were 
twelve  thousand  strong,  besides  a  varying  force  of 
militia,  with  artillery  in  abundance  ;  but  Cornwallis 
wrote  to  Clinton  expressing  entire  confidence  as  to 
holding  out  till  help  should  come.  He  found  him¬ 
self  fully  invested,  by  land  and  sea,  on  the  1st  of  Oc¬ 
tober,  and  on  the  6th  the  first  “  parallel  ”  of  the  be- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


261 


sieging  approaches  was  begun  by  General  Lincoln. 
It  was  finished  and  some  of  its  batteries  were  ready 
for  use  in  three  days,  for  the  men  toiled  hard  by 
day  and  night.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  9th  the 
first  gun  was  fired  by  General  Washington’s  own 
hand.  A  grand  bombardment  followed,  and  went  on 
incessantly.  The  British  works  suffered  severely, 
and  some  of  their  shipping  in  the  river  were  set  on 
fire  by  shot  from  the  French  guns. 

On  the  night  of  the  nth  Baron  Steuben  opened 
the  second  parallel,  within  three  hundred  yards  of 
the  British  works.  There  were  two  strong  redoubts 
flanking  this  new  parallel,  and  it  was  necessary  to 
storm  them.  This  was  splendidly  done  on  the  night 
of  the  14th.  One  was  taken  by  Americans  com¬ 
manded  by  Lafayette,  and  the  other  by  Frenchmen 
commanded  by  the  Baron  de  Viomenil.  From  that 
hour,  as  Cornwallis  wrote  to  Clinton,  the  fate  of 
Yorktown  was  sealed,  and  it  was  hardly  worth  while 
to  waste  ships  and  men  in  trying  to  re-enforce  it. 
He  even  thought  of  abandoning  his  sick  and  wounded 
and  baggage,  and  breaking  through  the  besieging 
lines  to  try  a  forced  march  northward.  It  was  an 
insane  idea,  and  a  faint  attempt  to  put  it  into  execu¬ 
tion  was  marred  by  a  storm  of  wind  and  rain.  He 
gave  it  up,  and  surrendered  his  fortifications  and 
men  to  Washington,  and  his  ships  to  the  Count  de 
Grasse.  He  had  lost  five  hundred  and  fifty-two 
men  during  the  siege,  and  the  prisoners  were  seven 
thousand  and  seventy-three  in  number. 

The  capitulation  was  made  an  occasion  of  impos¬ 
ing  military  ceremonial,  but  the  captured  army  was 


26  2 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


treated  with  courtesy,  and  the  terms  of  surrender 
had  been  by  no  means  severe, 

Washington  at  once  issued  an  address  of  congratu¬ 
lation  to  the  allied  army,  and  ordered  divine  worship 
in  the  several  brigades  and  divisions. 

Congress  also  added  a  day  of  thanksgiving  and 
prayer  to  its  enthusiastic  expressions  of  joy.  They 
voted  two  of  the  captured  flags  to  Washington  and 
pieces  of  field  ordnance  to  De  Rochambeau  and 

Count  de  Grasse,  and  decreed  a  marble  column  to 
be  erected  at  Yorktown. 

When  Lord  North,  Prime-Minister  of  England, 
heard  the  news  of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  and 

is  army,  he  threw  up  his  arms,  exclaiming:  “O 
God  !  It  is  all  over  !'* 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


Closing  up  the  War.  —  Tempting  Washington  with  a 
Crown.  —  Quelling  Disturbances. — The  Treaty  with 
Great  Britain. — A  Visit  to  Old  Battle-fields . — Fare¬ 
wells  to  Soldiers  and  to  Officers. 

There  was  no  need  for  any  more  war  after  the 
surrender  of  Cornwallis,  and  all  men  understood  it. 
Five  days  later  Sir  Plenry  Clinton  arrived  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Chesapeake  with  a  fleet  that  had  seven 
thousand  men  on  board,  but  he  learned  that  all  was 
over,  and  went  back  to  New  York.  Re-enforcements 
were  at  once  sent  to  Greene  at  the  South,  but  the 
rest  of  Washington's  army  returned  to  their  old 
quarters  at  the  North.  The  French,  under  Count 
de  Rochambeau,  camped  in  Virginia  for  the  winter, 
and  Count  de  Grasse  took  his  fleet  to  the  West 
Indies. 

The  commander-in-chief  had  now  before  him  a 
vast  and  difficult  undertaking.  The  patn  to  peace 
lay  among  all  sorts  of  perils,  and  no  other  man  held 
both  the  power  and  the  knowledge  necessary  to  keep 
the  country  from  disaster  and  anarchy.  A  large 
part  of  the  people  felt  so  sure  that  peace  had  already 
come,  that  they  were  ready  to  drop  the  army  alto¬ 
gether  as  an  affair  no  longer  needed.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  large  part  of  the  army  was  so  disgusted  with 
the  people  and  what  seemed  ingratitude,  that  it  was 


264 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


quite  ready  to  put  them  aside  and  set  up  a  ”  strong 
Government,”  with  George  Washington  as  Dictator. 

Before  taking  up  his  new  and  heavy  burden,  the 
general  set  out  for  a  few  days’  rest  at  Mount  Ver¬ 
non.  He  was  greatly  needed  there,  for  his  first  visit 
must  be  to  Eltham,  where  John  Parke  Custis  lay 
dying.  He  had  been  strongly  attached  to  his  step¬ 
son,  who  was  now  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  and 
had  shown  the  marked  results  of  the  wise  counsels 
under  which  he  had  grown  to  manhood.  Death 
came  shortly  after  Washington  reached  Eltham,  and 
Mrs.  Washington  was  childless.  Mr.  Custis  left  a 
widow  with  four  children,  and  of  these  the  two 
younger  were  at  once  adopted  by  the  general. 

After  a  few  days  at  Eltham,  Washington  went  on 
to  Mount  Vernon,  which  at  once  became  a  sort  of 
political  and  military  headquarters.  Here,  day  after 
day,  the  statesman-general  sat  and  wrote  letters  of 
counsel  to  his  fellow-patriots,  in  and  out  of  Con¬ 
gress,  and  of  direction  and  advice  to  his  widely  scat¬ 
tered  military  subordinates. 

Late  in  November  he  went  to  Philadelphia  to  urge 
upon  Congress  the  necessity  for  maintaining  a  show 
of  military  strength  during  all  negotiation  or  drifting 
toward  peace.  So  long  as  British  troops  should  hold 
New  York,  Savannah,  and  Charleston,  and  British 
fleets  were  cruising  along  the  coast,  and  so  long  as 
King  George  should  claim  a  right  to  keep  them 
there,  it  was  war. 

Congress  had  received  Washington  with  lavish  ex¬ 
pressions  of  respect  upon  his  arrival,  and  they  list¬ 
ened  to  his  sound  advice  so  far  as  legislation  went. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  265 

They  could  not,  however,  compel  the  several  States 
to  furnish  the  men  and  the  money  so  freely  voted 
and  so  greatly  needed.  All  winter  long  Washington 
remained  in  Philadelphia,  toiling  over  the  manifold 
perplexities  of  the  situation,  and  all  winter  long  the 
British  Parliament  debated  the  great  question  as  to 
what  England  had  better  do  with  America,  now  it 
had  lost  it  forever.  On  the  20th  of  March,  1782, 
the  Lord  North  administration  went  out  of  power, 
and  the  advocates  of  peace  with  America  went  in. 
At  about  the  same  time  Washington  left  Philadel¬ 
phia  to  join  his  army,  but  not  with  any  idea  of  an 
active  campaign. 

It  was  quickly  known  in  America  that  a  bill  had 
been  reported  in  Parliament  authorizing  the  King  to 
conclude  a  peace  or  truce  with  the  revolted  colonies 
of  North  America.  Early  in  May,  1782,  Sir  Guy 
Carleton  arrived  in  New  York  to  supersede  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  and  to  announce  to  Washington 
that  he  and  Admiral  Digby  had  been  joined  in  a 
shadowy  “  commission  ”  with  reference  to  peace. 
There  was  nothing  said  about  the  independence  of 
the  United  States  as  yet,  nor  was  any  reason  given 
for  ceasing  to  watch  the  British  army  and  navy. 

The  causes  for  discontent  in  the  army  continued, 
and  the  longing  for  a  strong  Government  was  not 
unnatural  among  men  who  had  been  born  under  a 
king.  The  camp-fire  talk  took  form  in  a  letter  ad¬ 
dressed  to  Washington  by  a  veteran  officer,  Colonel 
Lewis  Nicola,  in  which  it  was  plainly  intimated  that 
a  movement  for  a  monarchy  was  quite  possible  if 
the  commander-in-chief  would  consent  to  lead  it  and 


266 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


wear  the  crown  of  the  new  nation.  Washington  was 
a  patriot  and  a  republican  to  the  bottom  of  his  heart. 
In  his  prompt  and  indignant  reply  he  said  :  “  I  am 
much  at  a  loss  to  conceive  what  part  of  my  conduct 
could  have  given  encouragement  to  an  address  which 
to  me  seems  big  with  the  greatest  mischiefs  that  can 
befall  my  country.  ”  He  said  all  that  any  friend  of 
freedom  could  have  asked  him  to  say,  and  the 
visionary  crown  was  thrown  into  the  camp-fires. 

Sir  Guy  Carleton  and  Admiral  Digby  waited  for 
more  authority,  and  on  the  2d  of  August  wrote  that 
the  treaty  of  peace  was  under  consideration  at  Paris, 
and  that  the  independence  of  the  United  States  was 
to  be  at  once  conceded  by  Great  Britain.  French 
and  American  interests  had  not  been  separated  yet, 
however,  nor  British  troops  withdrawn  ;  and  Wash¬ 
ington  invited  Count  de  Rochambeau  to  move  his 
forces  from  the  Delaware  to  the  Hudson,  and  wait 
the  result  of  the  Paris  conference. 

It  was  long  in  coming,  for  while  preliminary 
articles  of  peace  were  signed  on  the  30th  of  Novem¬ 
ber,  1782,  the  final  and  definite  treaty,  binding  all 
the  interested  powers,  was  not  signed  until  the  3d 
of  September,  1783.  A  formal  cessation  of  hostili¬ 
ties  was  announced  to  the  army  on  the  19th  of  April, 
1783,  but  the  troops  were  not  disbanded  until  the 
3d  of  November  following. 

During  all  those  long  and  weary  months  of  wait¬ 
ing,  the  commander-in-chief  toiled  to  obtain  for  his 
officers  and  men  their  rights  and  a  just  reward  of 
their  service.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  continu¬ 
ally  harassed  by  their  murmurs  of  angry  discontent 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  267 

with  their  present  treatment,  and  with  the  dark  pros¬ 
pect  before  them. 

In  December,  1782,  a  committee  of  three  officers 
carried  to  Congress  a  memorial  on  behalf  of  the 
whole  army,  setting  forth  their  grievances,  and  long 
debates  resulted.  Nothing  practical  was  done,  how¬ 
ever,  and  spring  came  to  unpaid  and  angry  soldiers. 
On  the  10th  of  March,  1783,  a  circular  went  around 
among  them,  asking  them  to  send  their  officers  and 
others  as  delegates  to  a  meeting  next  day,  to  con¬ 
sider  a  letter  received  from  their  Committee  to  Con¬ 
gress.  With  the  circular  went  an  eloquent,  anony¬ 
mous  "  address/’  stirring  them  to  the  adoption  of 
extreme  measures.  This  paper  called  upon  them  to 
‘‘draw  up  your  last  remonstrance calling  it  no 
more  “  a  memorial.' * 

Washington  saw  the  danger,  and  acted  promptly 
and  wisely,  acting  with  his  men  and  not  against 
them.  He  called  a  meeting  of  officers,  to  assemble 
on  the  15th,  to  hear  the  “  report,"  not  a  mere  let¬ 
ter,  from  their  committee. 

The  first  meeting  subsided  at  once,  but  another 
“  address  "  went  the  rounds,  congratulating  all  that 
they  had  the  official  sanction  of  their  chief.  Gen¬ 
eral  Gates  presided  at  the  meeting,  and  Washington 
was  the  first  speaker.  He  had  carefully  written  out 
his  speech,  lest  it  should  be  garbled  or  misquoted. 
It  was  an  address  full  of  wise  counsel  and  close  sym¬ 
pathy,  urging  them  yet  to  endure,  and  to  give  the 
world  a  last  proof  of  their  unselfishness.  He  closed 
in  these  words  :  "You  will  give  one  more  distin¬ 
guished  proof  of  unexampled  patriotism  and  patient 


268 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


virtue  rising  superior  to  the  most  complicated  suffer¬ 
ings,  and  you  will,  by  the  dignity  of  your  conduct, 
afford  occasion  to  posterity  to  say,  when  speaking 
of  the  glorious  example  you  have  exhibited  to  man¬ 
kind  :  ‘  Had  this  day  been  wanting,  the  world  had 
never  seen  the  last  stage  of  perfection  to  which 
human  nature  is  capable  of  attaining.’  ” 

It  sounds  extravagant  and  overstrained,  and  as  if 
the  orator  had  become  excited.  It  did  not  sound  so 
to  Washington,  for  he  had  seen  those  men  rise,  half- 
naked,  starving,  from  beds  of  snow,  to  follow  him 
with  bleeding  feet,  that  as  many  of  them  as  were  to 
die  should  die  for  the  very  country  to  whose  sense 
of  justice  they  were  now  vainly  appealing.  There 
was  one  touch  of  eloquence  that  was  not  written 
down.  Just  after  the  first  paragraph  Washington 
was  forced  to  pause,  take  out  his  spectacles,  and  put 
them  on.  As  he  did  so  he  observed  to  his  men  that 
they  must  wait  a  moment,  for  he  had  grown  gray  in 
their  service,  and  now  he  was  growing  blind. 

The  sore  and  bitter  and  stormy  hearts  grew  warm, 
and  beat  quietly  once  more.  There  have  been  many 
great  speeches  delivered  by  great  orators,  but  it 
would  not  be  easy  to  select  one  greater  than  this  of 
Washington  to  his  army.  They  yielded  to  him  like 
children  to  a  father,  and  the  tide  was  turned.  Gen¬ 
eral  Knox  spoke  next,  and  old -Israel  Putnam  ;  and 
resolutions  were  offered  and  adopted  expressing  love 
for  and  confidence  in  their  commander,  and  all  the 
patriotic  patience  he  had  asked  for.  The  crisis  was 
past,  and,  as  time  went  on,  Congress  mastered  the 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  269 

difficulties  it  was  under,  and  did  fair  justice  to  both 
officers  and  soldiers. 

The  final  cessation  of  hostilities  was  announced  to 
the  army  in  general  orders  dated  the  19th  of  April. 
It  was  the  eighth  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Lex¬ 
ington. 

The  commander-in-chief  had  still  upon  his  hands 
the  closing  duties  of  the  war.  These  included  con¬ 
ferences  with  Sir  Guy  Carleton  as  to  posts  and  places 
and  property  to  be  surrendered  under  the  provisions 
of  the  treaty  of  peace,  and  other  matters  connected 
with  the  great  fact  that  the  British  fleet  and  army 
were  to  go  away.  Innumerable  details  of  public  and 
personal  anxieties  came  up  from  day  to  day,  as  the 
American  army  prepared  to  break  up  and  go  home. 
Its  officers  organized  themselves  into  the  “  Society 
of  the  Cincinnati/’  with  the  man  whom  they  called 
the  “American  Cincinnatus  ”  at  its  head.  It  was 
true  that  Washington  was  a  farmer,  but  he  was  not 
exactly  to  return  to  his  plough. 

The  only  mutinous  conduct  of  troops  while  dis¬ 
banding  was  on  the  part  of  some  new  recruits  in 
Philadelphia,  and  the  veterans  put  them  down. 

On  the  8th  of  June  Washington  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  governors  of  the  several  States.  Its  nominal 
subject  was  the  dissolution  of  the  army,  the  claims 
of  the  soldiers  to  the  gratitude  of  their  own  States, 
and  his  own  retirement  from  the  all  but  dictatorial 
power  conferred  upon  him.  It  was  really  a  letter  of 
sound  and  statesmanlike  advice  to  the  whole  coun¬ 
try.  It  was  so  full  of  patriotism  and  wisdom  that  it 


270 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


is  not  easy  to  quote  from  it  ;  but  he  spoke  of  four 
things  as  pillars  of  the  new  nationality  of  which 
liberty  was  to  be  the  basis  :  “  First,  an  indissoluble 
union  of  the  States,  under  one  federal  head,  etc.  ; 
second,  a  sacred  regard  to  public  justice  in  discharg¬ 
ing  debts,  etc.  ;  third,  a  proper  peace  establishment 
of  the  militia  ;  fourth,  an  abandonment  by  the  peo¬ 
ple  of  local  prejudices  and  policies. ” 

No  one  will  now  deny  that  the  country  would 
have  saved  much  blood  and  money  by  observing 
carefully  these  four  conditions  of  prosperity.  This 
duty  done,  and  a  host  of  others,  great  and  small,  it 
became  apparent  that  all  men  who  wished  something 
especial  done  for  them  were  crowding  to  headquar¬ 
ters.  It  was  wisdom  to  refuse  impossibilities  that 
possible  duties  should  not  suffer.  Besides,  it  was 
time  to  rest  a  little,  and  the  memories  of  the  long 
years  of  the  war  came  trooping  into  Washington’s 
mind  with  a  strong  invitation.  They  asked  him  to 
go  and  take  a  look  at  some  of  the  places  made 
memorable  by  other  events  of  the  struggle  for  liberty 
than  those  which  he  had  shared  in.  He  invited 
General  Clinton,  of  the  old  Continentals,  who  came 
out  first  and  had  never  left  him,  and  who  was  now 
Governor  of  New  York,  to  go  with  him.  They  went 
up  the  Hudson,  past  the  fortifications  which  had 
held  it  so  long,  to  Albany  ;  thence  to  the  scenes  of 
Burgoyne’s  battles  and  surrender  near  Saratoga  ; 
thence  through  Lake  George  to  Ticonderoga  and 
Crown  Point.  Coming  back  to  Albany,  they  went 
up  the  Mohawk  to  Fort  Schuyler,  and  out  across 
country  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Susquehanna  and 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


271 


Otsego  Lake.  Washington  studied  all  with  the  eyes 
of  a  statesman  as  well  as  general,  and  wrote  about 
“  our  system  of  inland  navigation  ”  as  if  he  had  al¬ 
ready  thought  of  the  Erie  Canal.  Soon  after  his 
return  it  was  necessary,  November  2d,  1783,  for 
him  to  issue  his  farewell  address  to  his  disbanding 
army  ;  and  most  of  them  had  little  else  to  carry  home 
with  them  except  their  arms  and  accoutrements. 
It  was  a  solemn  time,  for  there  was  no  private  sol¬ 
dier  who  did  not  have  ties  to  sever  and  friends  to 
part  with.  Pay  in  full  had  not  yet  come,  nor  re¬ 
wards  of  any  sort,  and  there  were  hardships  in  store. 
Sadly  they  grounded  their  arms  in  a  last  review,  and 
sadly  they  responded  to  the  farewell  of  their  be¬ 
loved  commander. 

The  British  army  evacuated  New  York  City  on 
the  25th  of  November,  and  as  their  last  detachment 
entered  its  boats,  a  body  of  American  troops  took 
possession.  Washington  came  with  them  over  the 
very  roads  along  which  he  had  so  stormily  retreated 
years  before.  As  he  intended  to  set  out,  on  the  4th 
of  December,  for  Annapolis,  Maryland,  where  Con¬ 
gress  was  to  meet,  the  officers  of  the  army  assem¬ 
bled  on  that  day  in  a  large  room  of  Fraunce’s  tavern 
to  bid  him  good-by.  When  they  had  gathered  and 
he  had  entered  the  room,  he  filled  a  glass  with  wine, 
and  said  to  them  :  “  With  a  heart  full  of  love  and 
gratitude  I  now  take  leave  of  you,  most  devoutly 
wishing  that  your  latter  days  may  be  as  prosperous 
and  happy  as  your  former  ones  have  been  glorious 
and  honorable.” 

He  drank  the  wine,  but  he  could  talk  no  more. 


272 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


He  exclaimed  :  “  I  cannot  come  to  each  of  you  to 
take  my  leave,  but  shall  be  obliged  if  each  of  you 
will  come  and  take  me  by  the  hand.” 

Knox  was  nearest,  and  stepped  forward  ;  but  the 
commander-in-chief,  with  hot  tears  on  his  face,  did 
more  than  shake  hands — he  put  his  arms  around 
him.  So  he  did  as  the  others  came,  and  neither  he 
nor  they  could  utter  a  word.  All  in  silence  they  fol¬ 
lowed  him  out  to  the  water’s  edge,  and  when  he  had 
entered  the  barge  and  raised  his  hat  in  a  last  salute, 
they  returned  it  silently,  and  he  was  rowed  away. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


Washington  s  Resignation  as  Commander-in-Chief. — 
Bright  Days  at  Mount  Vernon .  — hiternal  Improve¬ 
ment  Schemes . — The  Constitutional  Convention . — 
Elected  President  Unanimously . — A  Triumphal  Pro¬ 
cession. — A  Grand  Inaugural. 

The  adjustment  of  Washington's  accounts  with 
the  national  treasury  included  no  claim  for  pay,  and 
he  never  received  a  dollar  for  his  eight  years  of  ser¬ 
vice.  He  was  repaid  only  his  actual  outlays,  of 
which  he  had  kept  an  accurate  account  of  all  but  a 
few  small  sums.  The  amount  paid  him  was  four¬ 
teen  thousand  five  hundred  pounds. 

On  the  20th  of  December,  1783,  he  wrote  to  the 
President  of  Congress  asking  in  what  manner  he 
should  surrender  his  commission.  There  were  many 
reasons  why  it  was  best  that  he  should  do  so  public¬ 
ly,  and  noon  of  the  23d  was  named  as  the  time  for 
the  ceremonial.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  Members 
of  Congress  sat  with  their  hats  on,  in  token  that 
they  represented  the  sovereignty  of  the  nation, 
while  all  the  public  officers,  generals,  and  others  pres¬ 
ent  were  bareheaded.  The  galleries  of  the  hall  were 
thronged  with  ladies,  and  they  filled  all  vacant  spaces 
on  the  floor.  As  soon  as  Washington  was  seated, 
the  presiding  officer,  General  Mifflin,  arose  and  said 
to  him  that  “  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assem- 


274 


GEORGE  V/A  SITING  T ON. 


bled,  were  prepared  to  receive  his  communications.  ” 
It  might  almost  have  been  added  that  so  also  was 
Europe,  for  there  were  numbers  of  people  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic  who  did  not  yet  believe 
that  he  would  so  quietly  surrender  his  authority. 
His  address  in  resigning  his  commission  was  brief, 
dignified,  and  earnest,  and  General  Mifflin,  in  reply, 
spoke  eloquently  and  enthusiastically  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  duties  of  that  great  commission  had 
been  discharged. 

Washington  left  Annapolis  the  next  morning,  and 
reached  Mount  Vernon  on  Christmas  Eve.  It  was 
a  winter  of  such  uncommon  severity  that  he  was  at 
once  snow-bound.  He  could  not  even  go  to  visit  his 
mother,  and  there  was  all  the  more  chance  for  repose 
because  people  could  not  so  easily  come  to  see 
him.  His  letters  show  that  it  was  some  time  before 
he  could  put  away  army  habits  of  anxious  thought 
and  broken  sleep,  and  realize  that  he  was  once  more 
a  Virginia  farmer.  His  plantation  needed  his  care, 
for  it  had  been  running  down  somewhat  in  his  ab¬ 
sence.  The  Pennsylvania  Legislature  proposed  that 
Congress  should  make  some  provision  for  an  increase 
of  his  income,  but  he  promptly  refused  to  give  up 
the  cherished  honor  of  having  served  without  pay. 
He  also  refused  all  requests  for  the  use  of  his  papers 
for  historical  or  biographical  purposes,  rightly  decid¬ 
ing  that  the  time  had  not  yet  come.  He  determined 
to  live  plainly,  and,  when  the  snow  melted  and  the 
spring  brought  visitors,  they  found  Mount  Vernon 
conducted  in  a  style  of  thoroughly  republican  sim¬ 
plicity.  Mrs.  Washington  combined  dignity  with 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


275 


simplicity  as  perfectly  as  did  her  husband.  When, 
however,  it  was  remarked  that  she  had  an  inveterate 
habit  of  knitting,  the  explanation  came  that  she  had 
acquired  it  during  the  long  days  and  evenings  of  the 
war,  when  she  was  sitting  alone  and  thinking  of  him 
in  camp — winter  evenings,  for  instance,  when  his 
men  were  starving  around  him  at  Valley  Forge  or 
among  the  Hudson  Highlands. 

One  of  the  early  experiences  of  Washington’s  re¬ 
tirement  was  the  frequent  arrival  of  tidings  that  one 
or  another  of  his  old  comrades  had  passed  away. 
The  list  began  sadly  with  his  trusted  friend  General 
Greene,  and  it  rapidly  grew  longer. 

While  in  the  army  he  had  directed  the  manage¬ 
ment  of  his  estate  by  means  of  maps,  field  by  field, 
as  if  he  were  ordering  the  movements  of  troops  at  a 
distance.  He  found  that  crops  under  the  care  of  in¬ 
capable  overseers  were  very  much  like  detachments 
under  incompetent  officers :  both  were  all  the  more 
successfully  handled  when  the  master-hand  was 
nearer. 

There  was  much  correspondence  to  be  attended 
to  upon  both  private  and  public  affairs,  for  the 
nation  refused  to  permit  its  first  citizen  to  retire  al¬ 
together  and  at  once  into  obscurity.  The  Marquis 
de  Lafayette  came  to  spend  the  latter  half  of  the 
next  August  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  he  was  but  one 
of  the  most  welcome  in  a  long  catalogue  of  distin¬ 
guished  visitors.  When  autumn  came  a  fit  of  cam¬ 
paigning  fever  drew  the  old  soldier  into  the  woods 
again.  Washington  and  his  old  friend,  Dr.  Craik, 
who  had  been  with  him  in  Braddock’s  and  several 


276 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


other  campaigns,  mounted  their  horses  and  once 
more  rode  out  over  Braddock’s  Road.  The  In¬ 
dians  in  the  Ohio  country  were  too  much  dis¬ 
turbed  to  let  them  venture  farther  than  the  Monon- 
gahela  in  that  direction.  They  therefore  went  on 
up  that  river  and  came  back  through  the  Shenandoah 
Valley,  having  ridden  six  hundred  miles.  All  the 
way,  coming  and  going,  Washington  made  observa¬ 
tions  and  took  notes  of  the  nature  of  the  country, 
and  especially  of  the  capacity  of  its  water-courses, 
for  improvement  with  reference  to  internal  naviga¬ 
tion.  He  studied  and  wrote  and  talked  concerning 
the  future  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  the  commer¬ 
cial  uses  of  the  great  lakes,  as  if  foreseeing  the  vast 
things  which  his  fellow-citizens  would  yet  accom¬ 
plish.  He  wrote  such  a  letter  on  the  subject  to 
Governor  Harrison,  of  Virginia,  that  it  was  laid  be¬ 
fore  the  legislature,  and  measures  were  at  once  pro¬ 
posed  with  reference  to  the  share  of  that  State  in 
the  proposed  improvements.  Then  he  went  to  Rich¬ 
mond,  which  had  become  the  capital.  He  was  re¬ 
ceived  with  every  token  of  respect,  and  the  ideas  he 
advanced  were  such  as  could  never  be  put  aside. 

Lafayette  joined  him  at  Richmond,  and  returned 
to  Mount  Vernon  with  him  for  another  visit.  When 
it  was  over,  and  the  marquis  set  out  to  return  to 
France,  Washington  accompanied  him  all  the  way 
to  Annapolis,  affectionately  expressing  his  extreme 
aversion  to  a  parting  which  would  probably  be  for¬ 
ever.  In  a  letter  afterward  written  he  spoke  even 
gloomily  of  the  probable  shortness  of  his  life  and  of 
the  days  of  youth  that  had  gone  by,  not  to  come 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


277 


again.  He  afterward  wrote  and  worked  with  such 
energy  in  the  cause  of  internal  improvement  that 
when  the  State  of  Virginia  took  the  matter  up  and 
organized  companies  for  practical  operations,  the 
legislature  unanimously  voted  him  about  forty  thou¬ 
sand  dollars'  worth  of  shares  of  the  stock  of  those 
companies.  These  he  refused  to  receive  except  as 
trustee  for  certain  public  charities  to  which  he  de¬ 
voted  them,  still  in  peace  as  in  war  preferring  to 
serve  without  pay. 

His  diary  and  his  letters  during  the  following  years 
show  how  heartily  he  farmed  and  how  rooted  was 
his  love  of  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  all  domestic  animals, 
and  of  every  seed  and  shrub  and  tree.  He  made 
the  grounds  of  Mount  Vernon  beautiful.  His  love 
of  field  sports  still  clung  to  him,  and  he  rode  after 
hounds  vigorously,  but  perhaps  not  quite  as  reck¬ 
lessly  as  when,  a  mere  boy,  he  had  won  the  good¬ 
will  of  Lord  Fairfax  by  his  perfect  horsemanship. 
The  steadily  increasing  pile  of  his  correspondence 
compelled  him  to  keep  a  private  secretary,  for  it 
seemed  as  if  all  men  wrote  to  him.  Artists  came  to 
paint  his  portrait  in  such  numbers  as  to  be  an  annoy¬ 
ance,  and  so  is  some  of  their  work  to  this  day.  The 
State  of  Virginia  employed  the  artist  Houdon  to 
make  a  statue  of  him  that  now  stands  in  the  State 
House  at  Richmond. 

The  two  children  of  John  Parke  Custis  looked 
upon  Washington  as  “  grandfather,”  and  made  his 
home  brighter  for  him  ;  and  it  was  now  found  that 
he  could  laugh  as  heartily  as  ever.  In  his  younger 
days  he  had  been  very  fond  of  dancing,  and  now  he 


278 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


could  put  aside  his  war-worn  dignity  and  actually  go 
in  with  young  people  for  a  frolic — if  they  would  let 
him.  The  trouble  was  that  young  and  old  looked 
up  to  him  with  such  excessive  reverence  that  his 
presence  sometimes  acted  as  a  suppression  of  the 
very  fun  he  desired  to  join  in. 

These  years  were  a  sort  of  formation  time  for  the 
new  country,  and  the  people  were  slow  in  making 
up  their  minds  as  to  what  sort  of  a  nation  they  de¬ 
sired  to  be.  It  grew  more  and  more  plain  that  the 
old  federation  was  a  mere  makeshift  which  could 
not  last,  and  there  was  great  danger  that  it  would 
fall  to  pieces  before  a  better  one  could  be  devised 
and  put  into  operation.  Washington's  anxiety  upon 
this  subject  led  him  into  a  wide  correspondence  with 
leading  men  all  over  the  country,  and  he  had  a  vast 
influence  in  producing  the  result.  It  was  decided 
to  hold,  in  Philadelphia,  a  convention  of  delegates 
from  all  the  States,  to  make  a  new  and  stronger 
Government.  As  a  matter  of  course,  Washington 
was  chosen  to  head  the  Virginia  delegation.  Equally 
as  a  matter  of  course  he  was  unanimously  chosen 
President  of  the  Convention  when  it  came  together. 
This  was  on  the  25th  of  May,  1787,  and  for  four 
months  they  toiled  daily,  until  they  had  agreed  upon 
the  Constitution.  They  delivered  the  finished 
work  to  Congress,  and  Congress  sent  it  out  to  the 
several  States  for  ratification.  Washington  returned 
to  Mount  Vernon  when  his  work  was  finished,  and 
the  people  took  it  up  in  a  long  and  heated  discus¬ 
sion.  It  provided  for  a  close  Union  and  a  strong 
Government,  and  many  of  the  most  ardent  patriots 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


279 


joined  with  those  whose  motives  were  merely  “  sec¬ 
tional  ”  in  opposing  it.  Its  friends  were  called 
Federalists  and  its  enemies  Anti-Federalists,  and  the 
process  of  ratification  went  on  doubtfully  and  slowly. 

At  last  a  sufficient  number  of  States  formally 
approved  the  Constitution,  and  then,  on  the  13th 
of  September,  1788,  Congress  appointed  the  first 
Wednesday  of  January,  1789,  as  the  day  on  which 
the  people  should  choose  their  first  Presidential  elect¬ 
ors.  These  were  to  meet  and  choose  a  President 
and  Vice-President  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  Feb¬ 
ruary,  and  the  new  Government  was  to  take  con¬ 
trol  of  the  nation  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  March 
and  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

A  voice  came  up  from  every  corner  of  the  land 
naming  George  Washington  as  the  people’s  choice 
for  President.  When  the  electors  finally  acted,  and 
their  vote  for  him  was  unanimous,  they  did  but  ex¬ 
press  the  universal  will  and  the  expectation  of  other 
nations. 

He  knew  that  he  must  take  up  the  burden  put 
upon  him,  but  he  dreaded  it  exceedingly.  No  other 
man  knew  so  well  what  anxieties  and  responsibili¬ 
ties  were  included  in  the  high  honor  offered  him. 
He  was  formally  notified  of  his  election  by  General 
Mifflin,  President  of  Congress,  on  the  14th  of  April, 
and  he  at  once  set  out  for  New  York. 

Now  began  a  triumphal  progress  which  was  of  less 
importance,  as  a  recognition  of  past  services  than  as 
an  assurance  of  popular  support  in  the  great  work 
beginning.  From  the  hour  when  his  neighbors 
gathered  in  Alexandria  to  bid  their  great  friend  fare- 


2?o  GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 

well  to  the  hour  when  he  reached  New  York,  his 
journey  was  one  long  ovation.  He  had  bidden  his 
aged  mother  a  last  farewell.  He  had  sacrificed  his 
peaceful  pursuits  and  happy  home  at  Mount  Vernon, 
and  the  men  and  women  and  children  arose  to  bless 
him  for  all  he  had  given  up  for  them.  They  felt 
that  the  clouds  upon  their  own  hopes  were  drifting 
away  if  this  man,  whom  they  trusted,  would  take  and 
keep  control  of  national  affairs.  All  along  the  road 
the  crowds  gathered,  the  bells  rang  madly,  and  the 
cannon  pealed  salutes  of  honor  ;  houses  were  illumi¬ 
nated,  and  bonfires  blazed  at  night  ;  arches  spanned 
the  way,  and  young  girls  strewed  flowers  in  his  path, 
and  decorated  barges  waited  for  him.  It  was  a  tes¬ 
timonial  unequalled  in  history,  and  the  world  read 
the  account  of  it  with  wonder.  The  ovation  culmi¬ 
nated  in  the  thundering  salutes  of  the  shipping  in 
New  York  Harbor,  and  from  that  day  onward  the 
stern  realities  of  the  first  Presidency  settled  upon 
the  shoulders  of  the  one  man  who  could  bear  them. 

Congress  had  wisely  decided  that  the  new  chief 
magistrate  should  have  no  such  title  as  “  His  Excel¬ 
lency/’  but  should  be  simply  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  They  had  provided,  however,  that 
the  inauguration  ceremonies  should  be  as  stately  as 
possible.  The  oath  of  office  was  administered  in  a 
balcony  in  front  of  the  Senate  Chamber,  by  the 
Chancellor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  before  a  vast 
multitude.  Washington  was  very  plainly  dressed. 
His  suit  was  of  American  cloth,  dark  brown  through¬ 
out,  and  his  dress  sword  had  a  plain  steel  hilt.  He 
wore  white  silk  stockings  and  silver  shoe-buckles. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


281 


He  took  the  oath  reverently,  stooping  down  to  kiss 
the  open  Bible  before  him,  and  the  chancellor 
stepped  forward,  waving  his  hand  and  shouting  : 
“  Long  live  George  Washington,  President  of  the 
United  States  !” 

A  flag  went  up  on  the  cupola  of  the  building  as  a 
signal,  and,  as  the  people  shouted  their  response, 
the  bells  of  the  city  joined  them,  and  all  the  cannon 
thundered  an  44  amen.”  Washington  bowed  to  the 
throng  before  him  and  retired  from  the  balcony  to 
the  Senate  Chamber,  where  he  delivered  his  in¬ 
augural  address  to  both  Houses  of  Congress. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


Washington  s  First  Presidential  Term. — Questions  of 

Ceremonial. — A  Dangerous  Illness. —  War  with  the 

Western  Indians. — Presidential  Tours  North  and 

South. — Citizen  Genet. 

The  new  Government  was  in  secure  operation 
from  the  moment  that  George  Washington  had  taken 
the  oath  of  office.  He  had  as  yet  no  Cabinet,  and 
all  the  machinery  of  administration  was  to  be  created 
or  readjusted.  Two  States  —  Rhode  Island  and 
North  Carolina — were  yet  to  assent  to  the  Constitu¬ 
tion.  There  were  disputes  with  Great  Britain  as  to 
the  northern  boundary  and  the  posts  she  still  re¬ 
tained  upon  the  lakes.  There  were  troublesome 
people — French  and  Spaniards  and  Americans — 
intriguing  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  There  were 
vexed  questions  of  territorial  rights  between  the 
States  themselves  in  several  places.  There  was  to 
be  a  vast  amount  of  legislative  activity  demanded 
of  Congress,  and  the  President  was  to  exercise  a 
powerful  influence  upon  that  body.  His  views  upon 
any  subject  were  sure  to  have  great  weight,  even 
when  a  majority  might  be  found  against  him.  All 
this  and  more  is  true  ;  but  in  following  the  course  of 
events  during  the  Presidential  terms  of  Washington, 
no  new  light  whatever  is  thrown  upon  his  personal 
character.  Of  him,  as  of  few  other  men,  it  could  be 


GE  OR  GE  IV A  SUING  TON. 


283 


truly  said  that  at  this  hour  he  v/as  a  ripe  and  finished 
character,  known  and  read  by  all  men.  He  was  so 
well  understood,  in  fact,  that  all  the  virulence  of 
political  slander  assailed  him  in  vain.  It  did  assail 
him  with  all  manner  of  vile  and  stupid  vitupera¬ 
tion  ;  but  the  mud  thrown  did  not  stick.  It  is  hardly 
of  interest  to  anybody  at  this  day  to  know  that 
this  man  or  that  man  abused  General  Washington. 
What  is  noteworthy  is  that  it  was  equally  unimpor¬ 
tant  then,  and  that,  after  four  years  of  troubled  and 
vexatious  administration,  a  second  College  of  Elect¬ 
ors  unanimously  chose  him  a  second  time. 

The  events  of  Washington’s  first  term  of  office, 
of  a  strictly  political  nature,  require  a  thorough 
study  of  the  times  and  of  the  structure  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  for  their  comprehension.  The  arguments 
and  struggles  of  the  Federalists  and  Anti-Federalists 
do  not  belong  here.  Neither  does  the  manner  in 
which  the  public  credit  was  built  up,  nor  do  the 
measures  taken  to  protect  and  develop  commerce 
with  foreign  nations.  The  President  called  around 
him  a  staff  of  men  of  wonderful  ability,  and  to  them 
as  much  as  to  him  is  due  the  marvellous  mass  of  ad¬ 
ministrative  work  so  well  and  so  rapidly  performed. 
Congress  also  was  full  of  men  of  patriotic  sincerity 
and  high  intellectual  endowment,  as  the  course  of 
its  legislation  testifies. 

Throughout  the  country  there  was  a  strong  and 
growing  jealousy  of  any  feature  of  dress  or  equipage 
or  ceremonial,  public  or  private,  which  seemed  in 
conflict  with  the  idea  of  the  absolute  equality  of  all 
men.  It  was  a  time  of  the  breaking  down  of  social 


284 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


distinctions,  and  the  question  of  the  etiquette  belong¬ 
ing  to  the  dignity  of  President  was  of  political  as  well 
as  of  personal  importance.  It  was  quickly  discov¬ 
ered  that  rules  of  some  kind  there  must  be,  if  the 
President  was  to  get  time  to  eat  and  sleep  and  read 
his  letters  and  dispatches.  John  Adams  and  John 
Jay  and  Alexander  Hamilton  were  all  taken  into 
counsel,  and  with  their  help  the  problem  was  solved 
and  the  business  and  social  affairs  of  the  Executive 
Mansion  were  regulated  after  a  style  which  is  but 
little  changed  to  the  present  day.  A  great  deal  of 
practical  help  was  obtained  from  Mrs.  Washington 
herself,  who  arrived  in  New  York  on  the  17th  of 
May,  with  two  of  her  grandchildren,  after  a  journey 
brilliantly  lined  with  public  testimonials  of  affection 
and  respect.  She  did  not  propose  to  stay  at  home 
and  do  any  more  lonely  knitting,  and  she  was  ad-  ' 
mirably  qualified  to  sustain  her  part  of  the  new  dig¬ 
nity. 

It  was  simply  impossible  to  give  entire  satisfaction 
to  all.  Some  there  were  who  did  not  receive  invita¬ 
tions  to  Presidential  dinners  and  receptions,  and 
deemed  themselves  injured  by  a  too  aristocratic  ex¬ 
clusiveness.  Some  there  were  whose  tastes  were 
formed  by  associations  with  European  courts  or  by 
ideas  of  foreign  grandeur,  and  were  not  gratified  by 
so  quiet  a  style  of  living  for  the  ruler  of  a  great 
people.  Very  large  was  the  number  who  objected 
to  the  elegance  of  Lady  Washington’s  carriages  and 
horses  and  the  number  and  livery  of  her  servants. 
All  this,  however,  was  but  little  in  comparison  to 
the  jealousy  with  which  fanatical  democracy  and  ex- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


285 


treme  republicanism  watched  for  every  sign  of  auto¬ 
cratic  exercise  of  the  President’s  power,  for  it  was 
soon  well  understood  that  his  authority  was  a  great 
deal  more  than  nominal.  The  limits  and  barriers  of 
that  authority  were  by  no  means  well  understood. 
The  new  Government  was  truly  an  experiment  with¬ 
out  any  precedent  in  history,  and  men  did  well  and 
wisely  to  watch  its  every  working  with  zealous  care. 
As  time  went  on  it  became  evident  that  there  had 
been  much  wisdom  given  to  the  men  who  framed 
the  complicated  machinery  and  to  the  man  who  was 
directing  them  now  in  bringing  it  all  into  working 
order. 

There  was  an  unexpected  break  in  the  first  toils 
of  the  President,  and  it  was  of  enormous  value  to 
him  and  to  the  country.  He  was  toiling  over  a 
mass  of  papers  which  he  had  caused  to  be  collected 
that  he  might  better  know  the  exact  condition  of  all 
public  affairs  when  he  was  suddenly  prostrated  by 
a  violent  attack  of  anthrax.  There  were  no  tele¬ 
graphs,  but  every  man  and  woman  in  the  United 
States  was  speedily  in  anxious  waiting  to  learn  if 
George  Washington  were  yet  alive.  They  were 
compelled  also  to  study  their  own  minds  as  to  the 
probable  loss  to  themselves  if  he  were  then  to  be 
taken  away.  The  nearly  unanimous  verdict  was 
that  if  he  would  but  live  he  might  generally  have  his 
own  way.  The  Senate  rejected  one  of  his  nomina¬ 
tions  somewhat  carelessly  while  he  was  convalescing, 
but  was  very  prompt  in  confirming  his  next  nominee. 
His  sufferings  while  sick  were  very  great,  and  he  was 
at  one  time  threatened  with  mortification  and  speedy 


286 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


death.  His  physician,  Dr.  Bard,  was  one  day  alone 
in  the  room  with  him.  Steadily  looking  the  doc¬ 
tor  in  the  face,  Washington  asked  him  his  opinion. 
“  Do  not  flatter  me  with  vain  hopes/’  he  said  ;  “I 
am  not  afraid  to  die,  and  therefore  can  bear  the 
worst.” 

Dr.  Bard  told  him  his  fears,  but  expressed  a  hope 
of  recovery.  ”  Whether  to-night  or  twenty  years 
hence  makes  no  difference,”  said  the  sufferer;  “I 
know  that  I  am  in  the  hands  of  a  good  Providence.” 
He  regained  health  slowly.  For  six  weeks  he  was 
compelled  to  lie  upon  his  right  side.  Even  after  he 
could  ride  out,  he  had  to  do  so  at  full  length,  in  a 
carriage  contrived  for  the  purpose.  He  was  yet  in 
a  feeble  state  when  he  received  intelligence  of  the 
death  of  his  mother,  at  Fredericksburg,  Virginia. 
She  was  eighty-two  years  of  age,  and  he  had  not 
expected  to  see  her  again,  yet  he  could  not  but  feel 
deeply  the  snapping  of  such  a  tie.  She  had  been  a 
mother  worthy  of  all  the  love  and  veneration  he  had 
given  her,  and  his  preparation  for  his  great  useful¬ 
ness  had  been  begun  by  her. 

Day  by  day  the  new  Government  took  form. 
The  judiciary  was  organized,  with  John  Jay  as  Chief- 
Justice.  The  Treasury  Department  promised  finan¬ 
cial  strength  with  Alexander  Hamilton  as  Secretary. 
General  Knox  was  already  in  charge  of  military 
affairs,  and  was  made  Secretary  of  War.  Edmund 
Randolph  became  Attorney-General.  In  due  sea¬ 
son  Thomas  Jefferson  accepted  the  post  of  Secre¬ 
tary  of  State,  in  spite  of  the  extreme  republican 
views  which  he  brought  home  with  him  from  France. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


That  country,  where  Jefferson  had  for  some  time 
officially  represented  the  United  States,  was  now 
passing  through  the  long  agony  of  its  own  bloody 
Revolution,  and  Europe  believed  that  America 
was  responsible.  The  ages  of  tyranny  under  which 
the  French  people  had  been  ground  to  the  earth  had 
more  to  do  with  it,  but  the  example  of  America  had 
encouraged  them  to  rise,  and  they  had  no  Washing¬ 
ton,  nor  any  men  to  make  a  Congress  of,  nor  any 
“  old  Continentals  so  they  did  what  they  did, 
and  the  new  time  that  came  was  incomparably  bet¬ 
ter  than  the  old. 

In  October  of  that  autumn  old  war  memories,  as 
well  as  a  desire  to  know  more  of  the  present  condi¬ 
tion  of  the  people,  led  the  President  to  make  a  tour 
of  the  Eastern  States.  He  was  absent  from  New 
York  nearly  a  month',  and  all  the  way  to  Boston  and 
the  sea  coast  of  Massachusetts  and  back  through  the 
middle  country,  travelling  in  his  own  carriage  with 
four  horses,  the  people  made  it  one  long  celebration. 
It  was  sound  statesmanship  so  to  go  among  them, 
for  they  were  strongly  “  sectional,”  and  sometimes 
thought  of  even  him  as  ”  a  Virginian.” 

It  is  now  customary  for  the  President  to  send  his 
messages  to  Congress  in  writing,  but  when  Congress 
again  came  together,  on  the  4th  of  January,  1790, 
Washington  opened  the  session  in  person,  reading 
his  address  to  them  in  the  Senate  Chamber.  It  was 
somewhat  as  if  he  had  been  an  English  king  address¬ 
ing  Parliament.  His  recommendations  took  a  wide 
range,  and  called  for  an  amount  of  legislation  likely 
to  give  them  an  active  session. 


288 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


It  was  especially  urged  that  the  national  Govern¬ 
ment  should  not  only  provide  for  its  own  war  debt, 
but  should  assume  those  of  the  several  States  ;  and 
this,  after  much  demur,  was  finally  done. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  there  were  two  parties 
forming  throughout  the  country  and  in  Congress, 
and  the  extreme  “social  equality”  men  had  no 
better  representative  than  Thomas  Jefferson,  while 
the  “  strong  government”  men  had  none  better 
than  Alexander  Hamilton.  Both  of  these  leaders 
were  members  of  Washington’s  Cabinet,  and  were 
watching  each  other  jealously.  All  men  at  that  day 
were  also  watching  the  course  of  the  French  Revo¬ 
lution,  while  Lafayette,  in  the  very  heat  of  it,  sat 
down  to  write  letters  to  Washington  lamenting  that 
he  could  not  have  the  daily  counsel  of  his  old  leader. 

The  ever-present  “  Indian  question  ”  was  brought 
up,  in  the  fall  of  1790,  by  the  Indian  tribes  of  the 
Wabash  and  Miami  rivers,  who  now  found  them¬ 
selves  on  the  edge  of  the  advancing  tide  of  civiliza¬ 
tion.  They  made  it  necessary  for  the  President  to 
send  a  force  of  nearly  fifteen  hundred  regulars  and 
militia  against  them,  under  General  Harmer.  The 
red  men  had  good  reason  to  feel  that  they  had 
defeated  this  expedition,  although  it  did  some  hard 
fighting.  The  next  autumn  a  still  stronger  force, 
under  General  St.  Clair,  fared  even  worse,  and  it 
became  evident  that  the  young  nation  had  one  war 
upon  its  hands  which  could  not  cease  until  all  the 
lands  to  the  westward  should  be  fenced  in  and 
occupied. 

Having  inspected  the  Northern  States  in  one  year, 


GEORGE  l FA  SHING TON \ 


289 


it  was  equally  a  matter  of  duty  to  inspect  the 
Southern  the  next  ;  but  it  could  not  be  done  so 
rapidly.  Washington  set  out  from  Philadelphia  in 
March,  1791.  Congress  had  decided  that  the  seat 
of  Government  should  for  ten  years  be  in  that  city, 
and  that  during  that  time  public  buildings  should 
be  erected  upon  some  site  along  the  Potomac.  The 
States  of  Maryland  and  Virginia  had  joined  in  ceding 
the  tract  afterward  called  the  “  District  of  Colum¬ 
bia,”  but  the  present  city  of  Washington  was  as  yet 
open  fields. 

The  tour  of  the  President  lasted  nearly  three 
months,  ending  at  Savannah,  Georgia,  going  and 
coming  by  different  roads.  It  was  a  journey  of 
eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-seven  miles,  with  good 
weather  all  the  way,  no  accidents,  nothing  that  was 
disagreeable  ;  and  all  the  people  came  out  to  do 
honor  to  the  man  they  loved. 

Philadelphia  was  nearer  to  Mount  Vernon  than 
New  York  had  been,  and  a  few  weeks  of  that  autumn 
could  be  spent  at  home,  looking  after  the  affairs  of 
the  estate  ;  but  Congress  met  again  in  October,  and 
the  President  was  there  to  deliver  the  opening 
speech.  Only  a  few  weeks  later  there  came  to  him 
a  blow  that  roused  him  terribly.  He  had  trusted 
General  St.  Clair,  as  a  veteran  officer  of  tried  ability  ; 
but  his  last  words  to  him  on  sending  him  into  the 
Indian  country  had  been  :  “  Beware  of  a  surprise.” 

St.  Clair  had  forgotten  or  had  failed,  and  six  hun¬ 
dred  of  his  men  had  been  butchered  by  the  savages 
in  an  ambuscade.  The  first  news  came  to  the  Presi¬ 
dent  in  person  by  a  messenger  who  dismounted  in 


290 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


front  of  the  house  while  all  were  at  dinner.  He  re¬ 
fused  to  deliver  his  errand,  written  or  spoken,  to  the 
private  secretary  who  came  out  to  see  him,  but  said 
that  he  had  dispatches  for  the  President  in  person 
from  the  army  in  the  West.  The  President  arose 
from  the  table  and  went  out  and  received  the  mes¬ 
senger,  and  returned  and  finished  his  dinner,  and  no 
one  supposed  that  anything  great  had  occurred,  so 
perfect  was  his  self-control.  There  was  a  ‘  ‘  drawing¬ 
room  ”  that  evening,  and  Mrs.  Washington  led  her 
guests  away  from  the  table,  and  her  husband  with 
them,  to  spend  the  evening  sociably.  By  ten  o’clock 
the  company  had  gone,  and  she  went  to  her  room, 
leaving  only  Mr.  Lear,  the  private  secretary,  with 
the  President.  The  two  took  seats  on  a  sofa  by  the 
fire,  but  self-control  was  worn  out,  and  the  wrath  and 
grief  of  Washington  broke  forth  vehemently.  He 
exclaimed,  still  sitting  : 

“  It’s  all  over  !  St.  Clair’s  defeated  !  Routed  ! 
The  officers  nearly  all  killed — the  men  by  wholesale. 
The  rout  complete — too  shocking  to  think  of — and 
a  surprise  into  the  bargain  !” 

He  arose  and  walked  up  and  down  the  room,  the 
storm  within  him  raging  yet  more  fiercely,  till  he 
paused  near  the  door  :  “  Yes  !  Here  !  On  this 
very  spot  I  took  leave  of  him  !  I  wished  him  suc¬ 
cess  and  honor.  ‘  You  have  your  instructions  from 
the  Secretary  of  War,’  said  1.  ‘I  had  a  strict  eye  to 
them,  and  will  but  add  one  word — Beware  of  a  sur¬ 
prise  !  You  know  how  the  Indians  fight  us.  I  re¬ 
peat  it,  Beware  of  a  surprise  !  ’  He  went  off  with 
that,  my  last  warning,  thrown  into  his  ears.  And 


GEORGE  WASHING  TON. 


291 


yet  to  suffer  that  army  to  be  cut  to  pieces,  hacked, 
butchered,  tomahawked,  by  a  surprise  —  the  very 
thing  I  guarded  him  against  !  0  God  !  O  God  ! 

He's  worse  than  a  murderer  !  How  can  he  answer 
it  to  his  country  !  The  blood  of  the  slain  is  upon 
him — the  curse  of  widows  and  orphans — the  curse  of 
Heaven  1”  He  gesticulated  earnestly,  and  his  voice 
was  shaken  by  his  terrible  agitation  ;  but  he  slowly 
recovered  the  mastery  of  his  feelings,  and  sat  down. 
After  awhile  he  calmly  enjoined  upon  Mr.  Lear  to 
keep  silence  as  to  the  passionate  outbreak,  and  added 
that  he  would  hear  St.  Clair's  own  account  of  the 
matter  without  prejudice,  and  see  that  justice  should 
be  done  him. 

There  was  always  fire  enough  under  the  Presi¬ 
dent's  calm  and  dignified  exterior,  and  his  heart  was 
as  warm  as  when  he  had  wept  and  prayed  over  his 
own  military  errors.  There  was  also  even  greater 
reason  now  for  the  most  thorough  self-repression, 
and  he  practised  it  continually. 

He  kept  his  word,  and  did  perfect  justice  to  St. 
Clair,  who  had  not  been  altogether  in  fault  ;  but  he 
sent  “  Mad  Anthony  Wayne  "  in  command  of  the 
next  expedition  against  the  red  men. 

The  first  exercise  of  the  veto  power  sent  back  for 
amendment,  as  being  unconstitutional,  the  first  bill 
for  the  apportionment  of  Members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  ;  and,  on  reflection,  Congress  agreed 
with  the  President 

Washington’s  next  visit  to  Mount  Vernon  occurred 
in  May,  when  all  the  country  he  loved  was  in  its 
most  attractive  condition  to  the  eye  of  a  genuine 


292 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


farmer.  He  had  been  wearied  and  perplexed  by 
bitter  dissensions  in  his  Cabinet,  by  the  bad-tem¬ 
pered  debates  in  Congress,  by  the  virulence  of  party 
newspapers,  and  he  had  already  expressed  his  ear¬ 
nest  desire  for  rest.  It  needed  now  only  a  look  at 
the  green  fields  around  Mount  Vernon  to  make  him 
sit  down  and  write  a  letter  to  Mr.  Madison,  asking 
friendly  advice.  He  wished  to  settle  wisely  and  well 
the  form  and  method  of  announcing  to  the  country 
his  purpose  of  retiring  from  public  service  at  the  end 
of  his  present  term  of  office.  He  even  asked  Mr. 
Madison  to  write  a  valedictory  address  for  him. 
The  reply  did  credit  to  Madison’s  good  sense.  He 
did  not  oppose  directly,  but  he  urged  the  need  of 
Washington  at  the  head  of  the  national  councils,  and 
expressed  his  hope  that  he  would  remain. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  with  whom  he  had  spoken  upon 
the  same  subject,  wrote  to  him  a  long  and  eloquent 
remonstrance,  which  did  not  reach  him  till  after  re¬ 
turning  to  Philadelphia.  He  plainly  told  Washing¬ 
ton  that  if  he  were  to  leave  office  at  that  time  the 
country  would  go  to  pieces.  “  North  and  South,” 
he  said,  “  will  hang  together  if  they  have  you  to 
hang^on.  "  ”  Alexander  Hamilton,  head  of  the  oppo¬ 
site  faction  in  politics,  took  precisely  the  same  view 
of  the  matter,  and  wrote  as  earnestly  as  did  Jeffer¬ 
son.  Edmund  Randolph  wrote  him  concerning 
“  the  jeopardy  of  the  Union,”  and  its  only  hope  in 
Washington’s  re-election.  The  voices  of  other  able 
and  patriotic  men  joined  entreatingly,  warningly, 
with  these,  and  the  voice  of  Mount  Vernon  had  to 
be  turned  away  from.  Sadly,  wearily,  reluctantly, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


293 


Washington  consented  to  toil  for  four  years  more. 
There  was  no  opposition  at  the  polls,  no  adverse 
ballot  in  the  Electoral  College,  and  John  Adams 
was  once  more  chosen  Vice-President. 

This  time  the  oath  of  office  was  not  administered 
in  the  open  air,  but  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  before 
such  members  of  both  houses  as  were  then  in  the 
city,  and  a  brilliant  gathering  of  foreign  ministers 
and  of  civil  and  military  officials  and  ladies. 

The  news  from  France  was  now  growing  darker, 
and  Washington’s  mind  was  not  so  constituted  that 
he  could  regard  lawless  and  cruel  massacres  with  al¬ 
lowance.  He  sent  to  Lafayette,  now  in  exile,  a  sum 
of  money  equal  to  about  a  thousand  dollars,  deli¬ 
cately  insisting  that  he  was  somehow  indebted  to 
him  for  at  least  that  sum.  He  did  well  to  regard 
with  dread  and  aversion  the  reckless  insanity  of  the 
wild  spirits  now  at  the  head  of  French  affairs.  They 
had  driven  from  them  such  men  as  Lafayette,  the 
friend  of  America  and  of  Washington,  but  deemed 
themselves  entitled  to  call  upon  “  their  sister  re¬ 
public  ”  to  join  them  in  their  crusade  against  all 
monarchies. 

Early  in  April,  1793,  news  came  that  war  had 
been  declared  by  France  against  Great  Britain  and 
Holland,  and  there  was  great  excitement  every¬ 
where.  It  was  not  so  much  that  Americans  were 
sentimentally  in  love  with  France,  as  is  sometimes 
supposed  ;  it  was  rather  that  the  country  swarmed 
with  men  who  had  faced  British  and  Hessians  m  the 
field,  and  with  women  who  had  fled  from  homes 
that  were  but  ashes  when  King  George’s  troops  had 


294 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


passed  by.  The  sea-going  part  of  America’s  popu¬ 
lation  had  been  more  bitterly  and  actively  anti- 
British  than  any  other  from  the  beginning,  and  its 
first  thought  now  was  of  privateering. 

Washington  promptly  issued  a  proclamation  of 
neutrality,  but  the  French  republic  sent  over,  as 
Minister  to  the  United  States,  a  hot-headed  zealot 
named  Edmund  Charles  Genet,  or  “  Citizen  Genet,” 
as  he  preferred  to  be  called.  He  was  determined  to 
embroil  America  in  war  with  England,  and  brought 
with  him  no  less  than  three  hundred  blank  commis¬ 
sions  for  American  privateers. 

From  that  time  onward  there  was  increasing 
trouble  and  commotion.  The  zeal  and  impudence 
of  Genet  was  unbounded,  and  he  had  no  knowledge 
of  nor  reverence  for  the  laws  and  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  So  large  a  number  of  American 
citizens  were  almost  equally  ignorant,  and  so  strong 
was  the  feverish  excitement  against  England  and  in 
favor  of  France,  that  Genet  had  almost  a  temporary 
political  party  of  his  own.  Washington  was  fiercely 
abused  for  preventing  privateering  and  ior  protect¬ 
ing  British  neutral  rights.  One  of  the  vile  carica¬ 
tures  printed  represented  him  upon  a  guillotine,  and 
was  labelled  “  The  Funeral  of  Washington.” 

The  President  was  at  this  time  suffering  from  at¬ 
tacks  of  intermittent- fever,  not  severe,  but  sufficient 
to  make  him  more  than  ordinarily  irritable,  and  these 
scurrilities  affected  him  unduly.  He  even  lost  his 
temper  once  or  twice,  and  strongly  expressed  his 
wish  to  be  out  of  office,  declaring  that  he  would 
rather  be  in  his  grave  than  in  his  present  situation. 


GEORGE  WA  SHING TON. 


295 


The  arrogance  of  Genet  increased  as  time  went 
on,  until  even  Jefferson,  who  had  been  his  friend  in 
the  Cabinet,  saw  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  ask 
France  to  recall  him.  Others  preferred  to  send  him 
away  unceremoniously,  but  the  President  decided 
upon  moderation.  About  this  time  a  sea-fight  oc¬ 
curred  between  the  French  frigate  Ambuscade  and 
the  British  frigate  Boston,  in  which  the  latter  was 
worsted.  She  sailed  to  Halifax  to  refit,  and  the 
Ambuscade  sailed  into  New  York  Harbor  in  triumph, 
followed  by  a  fleet  of  fifteen  French  ships  of  the 
line  just  arrived  from  the  Chesapeake.  All  the 
French  sympathizers  in  New  York  were  aroused  to 
a  high  pitch  of  excitement,  and,  in  the  midst  of  it, 
news  arrived  that  Genet  also  was  coming  to  the 
city.  Bells  were  rung,  cannon  were  fired,  as  if  for 
an  event  of  national  importance.  Crowds  gathered, 
and  men  and  women  put  on  the  tri-colored  cockade 
of  France,  frantically  declaring  against  neutrality. 
Genet’s  head  was  turned  completely,  and  when,  in 
the  midst  of  his  glory,  he  was  informed  that  France 
had  been  asked  to  recall  him,  he  wrote  so  crazy  a 
letter  to  the  Secretary  of  State  that  it  upset  his  en¬ 
tire  position  before  the  people  as  soon  as  its  purport 
was  made  public.  Genet  had  placed  himself  in  open 
antagonism  with  George  Washington,  and  the  popu¬ 
lar  heart  responded  instantaneously.  Meetings  in 
support  of  the  Administration  were  at  once  held  all 
over  the  country,  and  the  excitement  rapidly  cooled 
away.  It  would  have  gone  entirely  but  for  the 
course  pursued  by  Great  Britain  with  reference  to 
holding  the  fortified  posts  south  of  the  great  lakes 


296 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


that  belonged  to  the  United  States,  under  the  terms 
of  the  treaty  of  peace.  To  this  she  added  a  severe 
blockade  of  the  ports  of  France  against  American 
provision  ships,  and  a  frequent  impressment  of 
American  seamen.  In  spite  of  all  this,  when  Con¬ 
gress  came  together,  on  the  2d  of  December,  1793, 
although  it  contained  a  nominal  majority  often 
against  the  Administration  on  other  points,  both 
houses  formally  approved  of  the  President’s  course 
in  sustaining  neutrality.  A  message  from  him 
placed  Genet’s  conduct  fully  before  them  ;  but  that 
gentleman  had  not  yet  been  recalled,  and  was  as 
mischievously  active  as  ever.  Thomas  Jefferson  re¬ 
tired  from  office  at  this  time,  having  remained  a 
whole  year  against  his  will  at  Washington’s  urgency. 
His  last  official  act  was  a  polite  rebuke  of  Genet, 
and  Edmund  Randolph  took  his  place. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


War  Clouds . — The  Whiskey  Rebellion. — Wayne' s  De¬ 
feat  of  the  Indians . — Political  Calumnies. — The 
Farewell  Address. — Home  again  at  Mount  Vernon. 
—  The  French  War  Excitement.  —  The  End. 

JUST  as  Genet’s  intrigues  reached  a  point  at 
which  the  President  had  determined  to  suspend 
diplomatic  relations  with  him  and  put  him  under 
arrest,  his  recall  by  his  own  Government  put  an  end 
to  the  annoyance  endured  from  him.  The  difficul¬ 
ties  with  England  continued  to  grow  worse,  and  the 
war-spirit  was  kindled  fast  among  the  people  as  her 
cruisers  grew  more  insolent  and  tyrannical.  These 
had  now  fresh  instructions  to  seize  all  vessels  bound 
for  France  or  any  of  her  colonies,  or  carrying  their 
productions  from  them,  and  they  had  captured 
American  vessels  enough  to  stir  the  blood  of  the 
whole  nation.  Congress  declared  an  embargo  pro¬ 
hibiting  all  trade  from  the  United  States  to  any 
other  nation  for  thirty  days.  That  meant  England, 
for  she  had  nearly  all  of  it.  Severer  measures  were 
under  discussion  when  news  came  that  the  British 
Admiralty  had  revoked  its  offensive  instructions. 
The  excitement  lost  something  of  its  intensity,  and 
Washington  did  all  in  his  power  to  allay  it  and  to 
avert  so  serious  a  disaster  as  a  foreign  war  entan¬ 
gling  the  United  States  in  European  affairs.  He 


298 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


sent  John  Jay  to  England  as  a  special  envoy  con¬ 
cerning  the  matters  in  dispute,  and  so  obtained  still 
further  time  for  the  nation  to  think  the  matter  over. 

All  foreign  affairs  went  on  more  smoothly  thence¬ 
forward,  although  they  still  required  careful  watch¬ 
ing.  Washington’s  determination  in  favor  of  peace 
abroad  was  steadily  successful  to  the  last,  but  he 
had  a  small  cloud  of  war  at  home.  It  grew  out  of 
the  first  law  providing  for  an  internal  revenue  by  an 
excise  tax  upon  distilled  liquors.  The  Anti-Federal¬ 
ists  had  bitterly  opposed  the  passage  of  the  act,  and 
now,  in  western  Pennsylvania,  they  arose  in  arms 
against  its  enforcement.  They  were  at  first  so  suc¬ 
cessful  in  defeating  the  slender  forces  of  the  excise 
officers,  and  felt  so  strong  and  so  sure  of  other  help, 
that  they  paid  little  attention  to  two  successive 
proclamations  by  the  President  commanding  them 
to  keep  the  peace.  There  was  but  one  wise  course 
for  him  to  pursue.  He  had  no  wish  to  shoot 
American  citizens,  and  so  he  at  once  marched  rapid¬ 
ly  upon  them  with  an  army  of  fifteen  thousand  men. 
As  the  approaching  columns  concentrated,  with 
Washington  in  person  known  to  be  directing  them, 
the  courage  of  “  the  whiskey  rebellion”  died  away, 
and  it  was  not  needful  to  hurt  a  single  man  of  them 
all.  With"  that  uprising  also  died  away  the  kind  of 
organized  lawlessness  from  which  it  sprang,  and 
which  Washington  strongly  crfOcTsect  rnTnessagesTo 
_Congress7~which  brought  upon  hlm  uhmeasured  de¬ 
nunciation. 

To  the  same  Congress  he  was  able  to  report  some¬ 
thing  better  than  St.  Clair’s  defeat.  General  Wayne 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON .  299 

had  built  a  fort,  in  1793,  on  the  very  ground  where 
that  had  occurred,  and  had  named  it  Fort  Recovery. 
The  next  summer  he  pushed  on  into  the  Indian 
country  and  built  another,  Fort  Defiance.  The 
Indians  had  gathered  about  two  thousand  warriors 
to  contest  his  further  advance,  and  he  attacked 
them,  on  the  20th  of  August,  at  the  Maumee  Rapids, 
within  thirty  miles  of  the  British  post  of  Fort  Miami. 
Wayne  had  with  him  nearly  three  thousand  men, 
and  won  the  battle  at  once  by  a  bayonet  charge, 
pursuing  the  red  men,  with  great  slaughter,  to  within 
gunshot  of  the  British  fort.  That  done,  he  laid 
waste  their  country  thoroughly,  and  reported  to  his 
old  commander  that  he  had  hopes  of  their  consent¬ 
ing  to  keep  the  peace. 

With  the  close  of  the  year  1794  Washington  lost 
from  his  Cabinet  his  old  friends  Knox  and  Hamil¬ 
ton,  and  his  letters  accepting  their  resignations 
show  plainly  that  he  felt  how  all  the  past  was  slip¬ 
ping  away  from  him.  There  was  also  in  the  assaults 
now  making  upon  him  by  political  enemies  an  ex¬ 
treme  of  bitterness  which  almost  exceeds  belief. 
Newspaper  critics  pulled  in  pieces  his  military 
record,  his  fidelity  to  the  Constitution,  his  good 
common-sense,  and  even  his  personal  character. 
One  wild  calumniator  actually  accused  him  of  draw¬ 
ing  from  the  Treasury  more  than  his  salary  as  Presi¬ 
dent.  An  unfortunate  expression  in  a  letter  written 
by  the  French  minister,  captured  by  the  British  and 
sent  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  led  to  a  troublesome 
conflict  with  Mr.  Randolph.  That  gentleman  after¬ 
ward  deeply  regretted  hasty  words  and  actions,  but 


3°° 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


they  nevertheless  added  to  the  soreness  of  heart  with 
which  the  President  longed  for  the  end  of  his  term 
of  endurance. 

It  became  generally  well  known  that  Washington 
had  decided  not  to  serve  a  third  term,  but  in  spite 
of  this  he  was  anxiously  urged  to  do  so.  He  put 
an  end  to  all  doubt  or  question  at  last.  Carefully 
consulting  with  Plamilton,  as  before  with  Madison, 
he  wrote  out  his  “  farewell  address,”  and  had  it 
published  in  the  Philadelphia  Daily  Advertiser  in 
September,  1796,  while  all  parties  were  getting 
ready  for  a  heated  canvass.  The  torrent  of  abuse 
which  had  poured  upon  him  subsided  in  a  manner 
which  sufficiently  explained  its  real  nature.  Several 
State  legislatures  ordered  the  address  to  be  entered 
in  full  upon  their  journals,  and  when  Congress  came 
together  it  was  evident  that  it  contained  but  a  small 
drop  of  personal  bitterness  against  the  retiring  states¬ 
man. 

Washington  addressed  the  assembled  Houses  in 
a  speech  which  contained  several  important  recom¬ 
mendations.  The  existing  difficulties  with  France, 
which  were  now  assuming  perilous  proportions,  were 
dwelt  upon  regretfully  ;  but  his  allusion  to  the 
fact  that  his  own  public  career  was  closing  took  the 
form  of  a  prayerful  congratulation  upon  the  success 
which  had  thus  far  attended  **  the  experiment”  of 
representative  government  by  the  people. 

The  reply  of  the  Senate,  couched~Tn  the  warmest 
terms,  was  adopted  by  that  body  unanimously. 
That  of  the  House  was  equally  expressive  of  grati¬ 
tude  and  appreciation  of  the  President’s  character 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


3oz 


and  services,  but  certain  sentences  which  approved 
the  wisdom  of  his  administration  and  expressed  re¬ 
gret  at  his  retirement  met  with  opposition.  Twelve 
members  voted  to  expunge  them,  while  professing 
their  entire  accord  with  the  remainder  of  the  reply. 
In  the  language  of  Mr.  Giles,  of  Virginia,  they 
“  hoped  the  President  would  be  happy  in  his  retire¬ 
ment,  and  hoped  he  would  retire/’  Among  those 
who  voted  to  expunge  was  Andrew  Jackson,  of  Ten¬ 
nessee,  and  it  was  a  political  marvel  that  they  were 
but  twelve,  all  told. 

During  the  few  weeks  that  remained  of  his  presi¬ 
dential  term,  Washington  strove  to  arrange  the  diffi¬ 
culties  with  France,  but  failed  entirely.  He  also 
attended  to  some  of  the  current  calumnies  in  a  way 
which  confessed  how  deeply  they  had  annoyed  him  ; 
but  he  had  little  need  to  trouble  himself.  There 
was  no  more  partisan  use  for  them,  and  they  died. 
When  the  Electoral  votes  were  counted,  it  was  ascer¬ 
tained  that  he  was  to  be  succeeded  by  John  Adams, 
of  Massachusetts.  Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Virginia, 
had  the  next  highest  number  of  votes,  and  therefore, 
as  was  then  the  law,  was  elected  Vice-President. 

During  this  time  Washington  wrote  many  letters 
to  his  old  friends,  and  they  are  all  filled  with  expres¬ 
sions  of  weariness.  He  felt  that  he  had  toiled  long 
enough,  and  was  hungry  for  Mount  Vernon  and  for 
rest. 

When  the  time  came  for  the  inauguration  of  the 
new  President  and  Vice-President  the  hall  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  was  thronged,  and  a  mul¬ 
titude  waited  outside  of  the  building.  It  seemed, 


3°2 


GEORGE  IV A  SUING  TON. 


however,  as  if  all  had  come  to  say  good-by  to  the 
out-going  man  rather  than  to  honor  his  successors 
in  power.  When  all  was  over,  the  crowds  nearly 
trampled  upon  each  other,  and  followed  him  to  the 
door  of  his  own  residence.  He  made  them  no 
spoken  address,  but  he  turned  around,  weeping,  and 
waved  them  a  silent  farewell  with  his  hands. 

A  grand  banquet  was  given  him  that  evening, 
March  4th,  and  as  soon  as  might  be,  afterward,  he 
set  out  with  his  family  for  Mount  Vernon.  With 
him  also  went  George  Washington  Lafayette  and 
his  tutors,  for  the  young  son  of  the  marquis  had  for 
some  time  been  pursuing  his  studies  in  America, 
under  the  especial  direction  of  his  father’s  old  friend. 

The  condition  of  the  estate  called  loudly  for  the 
eye  and  directing  hand  of  its  owner,  and  both  were 
busy  at  once.  Washington’s  letters  written  at  this 
time  show  how  sincerely  and  lovingly  he  returned  to 
the  duties  and  pleasures  of  farm  life,  and  how  pleas¬ 
ant  were  all  his  domestic  arrangements.  There  is 
a  great  deal  of  beauty  about  those  last  days  at 
Mount  Vernon,  but  they  were  not  to  be  many. 
Neither  could  he  altogether  shut  out  public  affairs, 
for  these  would  come  in  and  disturb  the  peace  of 
the  old  patriot,  and  ask  him  for  his  wise  counsel. 
He  could  not  cease  to  be  a  power  in  national  affairs. 

A  tide  of  pilgrimage  set  in  toward  Mount  Vernon. 
Foreigners  visiting  America  did  not  wish  to  go  home 
without  having  seen  its  greatest  man.  Americans 
who  had  seen  him  desired  to  see  him  again,  and 
those  who  had  not  were  anxious  to  have  and  keep  a 
memory  of  his  face.  There  was  genuine  hospitality 


GEORGE  IV A  SUING  TON. 


ready  for  all  who  came,  and  yet  they  brought  a  bur¬ 
den  with  them. 

The  star  of  the  household,  Miss  Nellie  Custis,  was 
also  almost  an  anxiety  to  Mrs.  Washington,  and 
the  interest  taken  by  the  general  in  her  courtships 
and  finally  in  her  marriage  was  dignifiedly  and  grand- 
fatherly  romantic.  Always  fond  of  young  people, 
he  was  especially  anxious  that  his  somewhat  senti¬ 
mental  favorite  should  be  assured  of  a  happy  home, 
and  he  would  not  have  her  too  much  trammelled  or 
interfered  with.  It  appears  that  her  grandmother 
was  hardly  so  indulgent. 

News  came  of  the  liberation  of  Lafayette  from 
Olmutz,  and  his  son  went  home  to  join  him,  bear¬ 
ing  letters  of  warm  friendship  and  congratulation  ; 
but  no  news  came  of  peace  and  good-will  between 
the  two  republics.  The  French  Directory  grew 
more  overbearing,  peremptory,  and  at  last  unendur- 
ably  insulting.  French  cruisers  captured  American 
vessels  on  the  high  seas,  and  an  American  ambassador 
was  ordered  to  leave  French  territory.  A  session 
of  Congress  was  called  to  consider  the  matter,  and 
three  envoys  extraordinary  were  sent  over  only  to 
receive  the  most  extraordinary  treatment,  and  come 
home.  It  was  evident  that  war  was  probable,  for 
the  entire  country  was  roused  to  indignation.  Presi¬ 
dent  Adams  was  authorized  by  Congress  to  raise  a 
provisional  army  of  ten  thousand  men.  He  at  once 
took  counsel  of  Washington,  as  did  other  leading 
men,  and  then  nominated  him  to  the  Senate  as  com¬ 
mander-in-chief  of  all  forces  raised  or  to  be  raised. 
The  confirmation  was  unanimous,  and  was  made  the 


304 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


same  day  ;  and,  early  in  November  (1798),  Mount 
Vernon  was  once  more  given  up.  Its  owner  was  in 
Philadelphia,  struggling  with  a  host  of  difficult  ques¬ 
tions  relating  to  the  making  of  a  new  army.  Not 
the  least  of  his  trials  arose  from  the  fact  that  even 
the  oldest  of  the  revolutionary  generals  expected  to 
be  re-employed  with  their  old  relative  rank,  while 
Washington  knew  very  well  that  in  case  of  actual 
war  he  must  meet  the  French  with  young  men  led 
by  young  men.  He  was  too  good  a  general  to 
organize  a  defeat  instead  of  a  victory.  So  soon  as 
he  had  sufficiently  developed  his  plans  for  the  new 
army,  if  there  should  be  one,  he  returned  to  Mount 
Vernon,  and  conducted  his  part  of  the  remaining 
work  by  mail.  A  stream  of  office-seekers,  good  and 
bad,  followed  him  and  ate  up,  as  he  complained, 
not  only  the  forage  and  other  supplies  of  his  house¬ 
keeping,  but  also  his  time  and  strength.  There  was 
not  to  be  any  actual  war  with  France,  for  the  atti¬ 
tude  assumed  by  America  simplified  all  diplomatic 
work,  and  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  problem  was  in 
due  season  arrived  at. 

Meantime  the  pressure  upon  the  time  and  strength 
of  Washington  continued.  Mount  Vernon  was 
thronged  continually,  and  he  was  overtaxed.  There 
was  a  great  deal  of  sunshine  there,  for  an  atmosphere 
of  love  and  reverence  for  the  warm-hearted,  faithful 
old  soldier  and  statesman  filled  the  house. 

Nellie  Custis  was  by  this  time  engaged  to  be  married 
to  Washington's  nephew  and  especial  favorite,  Law¬ 
rence  Lewis,  and  a  grand  wedding  had  been  arranged 
for  to  take  place  on  the  22d  of  February. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


3°5 


Something  yet  more  grand  and  solemn  was  to 
come  before  that  birthday  wedding.  The  com¬ 
mander-in-chief  of  the  armies  of  the  United  States 
seemed  to  be  in  full  vigor  of  health  and  spirits.  He 
daily  attended  to  the  affairs  of  his  estate,  “  visiting 
the  outposts  "  of  it,  as  he  said,  with  watchful  care. 
He  received  and  answered  correspondence,  and  wel¬ 
comed  and  dismissed  his  visitors  as  usual.  Neither 
he  nor  any  of  those  around  him  thought  but  that 
long  years  of  earthly  usefulness,  happiness,  and 
honor  were  before  him.  He  had  even  provided  that 
when  Nellie  should  become  Mrs.  Lewis  she  and  her 
husband  should  be  his  nearest  neighbors. 

On  the  12th  of  December  out-door  duties  were 
attended  to  by  Washington  in  snow  and  rain,  as  if 
he  had  been  a  young  man.  The  next  day  he  had  a 
sore  throat,  but  he  again  went  out.  After  his  re¬ 
turn  his  hoarseness  increased,  but  he  refused  to 
take  medicine  “  for  a  cold."  In  the  night  a  chill 
assailed  him,  but  he  would  not  permit  Mrs.  Wash¬ 
ington  to  disturb  anybody.  By  morning  he  could 
hardly  speak,  and  one  physician  first,  and  then  an¬ 
other  and  another,  was  sent  for,  but  they  had  no 
skill  to  deal  with  this  matter. 

In  the  afternoon  of  that  day  he  asked  Mrs.  Wash¬ 
ington  to  bring  him  two  wills  which  he  had  drawn, 
and  he  burned  one  of  them.  Soon  after  this  was 
done  he  said  to  his  private  secretary,  Mr.  Lear  : 
“  I  find  I  am  going.  My  breath  cannot  last  long. 
I  believed  from  the  first  that  the  disorder  would 
prove  fatal."  He  added  directions  as  to  various 
affairs,  and  from  that  time  forward  he  did  but  brave- 


306 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON . 


ly  and  calmly  await  the  end,  with  a  constant  solici¬ 
tude  for  the  anxiety  and  fatigue  he  was  causing 
those  who  were  attending  him. 

Between  ten  and  eleven  o’clock  that  night  he  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  saying  a  few  words  to  Mr.  Lear,  who 
stood  by  him,  and  added,  “  Do  you  understand 
me  ?” 

“  Yes,”  said  Mr.  Lear. 

’Tis  well,”  whispered  the  dying  man,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  more  the  change  came. 

Mrs.  Washington  was  with  him  to  the  last,  and 
sustained  the  blow  with  steady  fortitude,  saying, 
“  I  shall  soon  follow  him.  I  have  no  more  trials  to 
pass  through.” 

The  funeral  took  place  on  the  1 8th  of  December, 
with  only  such  ceremonials  as  the  immediate  neigh¬ 
borhood  provided.  The  body  was  placed  in  the 
family  vault  on  the  Mount  Vernon  estate.  Military 
companies,  horse,  foot  and  artillery,  came  from 
Alexandria.  Freemasons,  the  clergy,  all  people 
who  could  come,  made  up  the  sorrowing  procession, 
and  minute-guns  were  fired  as  it  wound  away  from 
the  house  ;  but  there  was  a  marked  simplicity  which 
accorded  well  with  the  great  life  so  spent  and  ended. 

When  the  will  was  opened,  it  was  found  to  con¬ 
tain  yet  further  evidence  that  the  strength  of  George 
Washington’s  character  was  in  the  soundness  of  his 
heart.  All  his  slaves  were  to  be  emancipated  upon 
the  death  of  Mrs.  Washington,  with  full  provision 
for  the  aged  and  infirm  among  them.  His  kith  and 
kin  had  been  remembered,  but  he  had  not  forgotten 
the  lowliest  of  his  household.  It  was  a  “farewell 


GE  OR  GE  WA  SUING  TON. 


3°  7 


address  ”  full  of  wise  teaching,  but  its  meaning  was 
sadly  forgotten. 

The  nation  expressed  in  many  ways  its  sorrow  for 
its  sudden  loss.  British  ships  of  war  lowered  their 
flags  to  half-mast.  The  standards  of  France  were 
draped  with  crape  by  order  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte, 
First  Consul.  From  many  corners  of  the  earth  rose 
voices  of  regret.  It  was  not,  however,  a  time  for 
mourning  of  any  real  bitterness.  The  full,  rich 
harvest  of  an  unselfish  life  had  been  gathered  in  its 
ripeness.  An  example  had  been  left  to  the  young 
men  of  America  for  all  time,  for  this  man  gave  up 
all  he  had,  systematically,  for  his  country,  loving 
not  himself  first,  but  the  commonwealth,  under  God. 


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